How the mighty have fallen! How true! – but it's not the whole story!

“How the mighty have fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19,25,27). How true! – but it’s not the whole story! Life in this world is a combination of tragedy and triumph. In the life of Saul, the first king of Saul, there was a lot of tragedy, and not much triumph. In the life of his successor, King …

‘As for God, His way is perfect’

2 Samuel 10:1-11:27‘May the Lord do what seems good to Him’(10:12). This is the attitude we ought to have. This is the ideal: ‘Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven’; ‘Not as I will, but as You will’(Matthew 6:10; 26:39). Often, we do not live up to the ideal - ‘the …

Beyond The ‘Pain’ Of ‘Discipline’, There Is ‘The Peaceful Fruit Of Righteousness.’

2 Samuel 7:1-29David was king. God was looking ahead to the next king, Solomon. Knowing the kind of man Solomon would become, God speaks of chastening: ‘When he does wrong, I will chasten him’. This chastening is an expression of God’s ‘steadfast love’: ‘Those whom I love, I rebuke and chasten’. How do we respond …

What Is More Important To You – Your Own Reputation Or The Glory Of God?

2 Samuel 16:1-23What is more important to you - your own reputation or the glory of God? ‘Curse David’- This was the last thing David wanted to hear. It may, however, have been what he needed to hear. Here, we see David’s true spiritual stature. This was not a ‘feel good’ message. David recognized that …

‘Christ Died For Sins, Once For All, The Righteous For The Unrighteous, To Bring You To God.’

2 Samuel 18:1-33Some die young. Others live to a ripe old age. None of us can predict what lies ahead of us. There are some things that are beyond our control. We look at what is happening and we say, ‘I wish things could be different’. Absalom had been killed. David wished he could have …

‘Paul Planted, Apollos Watered, But God Gave The Growth.’

2 Samuel 19:40-20:26‘The words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel’(43). At the heart of all this conflict was Sheba. He was a real trouble-maker. ‘A worthless fellow’, he was up to no good. A complainer, he wreaked havoc among God’s people. He was out to make …

Setting God’s Servants On A Pedestal Is A Dangerous Thing.

2 Samuel 19:1-39‘My lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil’(27;14:17). Setting God’s servants on a pedestal is a dangerous thing. Don’t imagine that they will always get it right. They won’t. They have their faults and failings as well as everyone else. They need forgiveness just as much …