10/14/2010 9:46:26 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My
Worship Time Focus: Hushai’s counsel prevailed
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: 2Samuel 17:1-14
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Furthermore, Ahithophel said to Absalom, "Please let me choose
12,000 men that I may arise and pursue David tonight. 2 "I will come upon him while he is weary
and exhausted and terrify him, so that all the people who are with him will
flee. Then I will strike down the king alone, 3
and I will bring back all the people to you. The return of everyone
depends on the man you seek; then all the people will be at peace." 4 So the plan pleased Absalom and all the
elders of Israel. 5 Then Absalom said,
"Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to
say." 6 When Hushai had come to
Absalom, Absalom said to him, "Ahithophel has spoken thus. Shall we carry
out his plan? If not, you speak." 7
So Hushai said to Absalom, "This time the advice that Ahithophel has
given is not good." 8 Moreover,
Hushai said, "You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men
and they are fierce, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. And your
father is an expert in warfare, and will not spend the night with the people.
9 "Behold, he has now hidden
himself in one of the caves or in another place; and it will be when he falls
on them at the first attack, that whoever hears it will say, ’There has been a
slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ 10 "And even the one who is valiant, whose
heart is like the heart of a lion, will completely lose heart; for all Israel
knows that your father is a mighty man and those who are with him are valiant
men. 11 "But I counsel that all
Israel be surely gathered to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that
is by the sea in abundance, and that you personally go into battle. 12 "So we shall come to him in one of the
places where he can be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the
ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him, not even one will be
left. 13 "If he withdraws into a
city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into
the valley until not even a small stone is found there." 14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said,
"The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of
Ahithophel." For the LORD had ordained to thwart the good counsel of
Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring calamity on Absalom.”
This
SD begins the second main point entitled “David’s prayer was answered.” There are four sub-points in this section
with the first one the focus of today’s SD.
This whole main point is the second thing that David experienced in this
great time of trouble that he was going through and to have a great answer to
prayer in a time of trouble is a wonderful thing to happen.
Dr.
Wiersbe points out at the beginning of his commentary on this section that he
had written another book entitled “Preaching & Teaching with Imagination,”
and in that book the first four chapters are dedicated to this section that
this SD is about. I think that some of
the things he writes about in this very large book is the great use of
metaphors used by Hushia in this section.
This
section begins with great advice given by Ahithophel, but in giving his ideas
he focuses upon himself and this could be because of his great hatred for David
because of what David did to his grand-daughter Bathsheba. David’s prayer was that God would make the
counsel of Ahithophel foolishness and God answered this portion of David’s
prayer.
Hushai
on the other had was getting to the ego of Absalom by telling him to lead an
army after David and by taking charge and killing all of David’s troops which
would mean that all of the people would want to follow him. Psalm 33:10-11 reads as follows, “The LORD
nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The
counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to
generation.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Even up to the day before we were suppose to
leave for this trip to Kauai my prayer was if this was not in the will of God
for us that God would stop it and thus far He has stopped this job, however He
had assigned me to talk to Debora this past Monday and perhaps this may have
been part of the reason for the delay of this job. My point in all of this is that I am in a
difficult time of my life with all of the things that have happened to both my
wife and me since my retirement and was looking forward to working on this job
and making enough money to pay our house off and perhaps put a little in the
bank but I have to believe that all of this is happening because it is in the
will of the Lord for all of us. My
prayer now is that if the Lord has plans for us to go to Kauai and work on this
job then He would give peace to my wife concerning this whole deal, that He
would heal hear heart from bitterness and fear and that she would begin to have
a great trust in the Lord.
My
Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Trust
in the Lord with all of my heart and lean not on my own understanding, in all
of my ways acknowledge Him and He will direct my path.
2. I
wish to copy and paste verse fourteen from 2Samuel 17 her: “For the LORD had ordained to thwart the good
counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring calamity on Absalom.” The reason is that in this section of verse
fourteen I see that the Lord was in complete control of this situation as I
believe He is in the one we are in at this time.
10/14/2010 10:37:30 AM
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