2 Samuel 8 starts with the words "after this". That is our cue to read the preceding verses. King David has always been a warrior king; but for now, he is settled in his palace and the LORD has given him rest on every side from his enemies. God reminds David where he came from--He took him from the pasture while he was tending sheep and made him king over His chosen people. God has been with him and fought on his behalf. David lives in a palace, while God has been content to live in a tent. God promises to make David's name great, the greatest on the earth. God Himself will make a house for David, and an established kingdom. God's faithful love will never leave David. As you can imagine, David's heart and voice overflowed with thanksgiving!!! After this....David is back on the battlefield. He has many victories (although I have "YIKES!!" written in my Bible beside 2 Samuel 8:2 😧) The LORD made David victorious where he went; and David in returned reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all the people. Some time later, David tried to show kindness to the son of a friend, the king of the Ammonites. He sent a party of men carrying condolences for the death of the king's father. The leaders were skeptical, taking the condolences as a way to scout out and destroy the city. So they humiliate the men by shaving off half their beards, and cutting their clothes in half at the hips. 😖 King David gave the men time off to grow their beards back in peace, but he was repulsed by the actions of the Ammonites. They eventually went to war, with David and Israel being victorious. During all of this, David put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain, and he wrote a refrain, a testament to his pain.
Psalm 60. A king....praying for his people. David prays a true lament according to our pattern in Deuteronomy 26. He cries out, to God, with a list. Although God didn't reject them, He didn't break them down, David is not afraid to bring his concerns--real or perceived, good or bad-- before God. He could have prayed for himself only, he's king after all. But he includes his people, he loves his people, he feels their pain and humiliation, he fights for not just himself but for the kingdom his whole life. He unites them by saying us or we 7 times in these 12 verses. He asks God to answer him so that "those you love may be rescued." A heavy burden for a mere human king. Oh, who would ever want to be king? *not King David in this video 😁
David knew that no matter how bad it "feels" to us-- mere humans who only see a snapshot of the big picture-- their future was safe in the hands of their faithful God.
So what's our takeaway? Do we wish for a "king" who prays for us? Do we expect our leaders to lament on our behalf, to lead us to God? I mean, sure, who wouldn't want that?!?! But, I think we make a grave error when we try to lay the promises to Israel over America. Our lament over our nation's downward spiral was one of the main reasons I started this particular study. As I said on the first day, we mourn the loss of the good old days, the loss of innocence, the evil that may not completely prevail, but definitely screams the loudest. The difference between America and Israel is Israel was a theocracy. They were God's chosen people. America was founded on the Word of God, but no longer lives by it. America But you know who can compare themselves to Israel? The church. Christ's chosen people, bought with a price. We should never expect Biden or Trump or any other politician to pray for us. We should never expect them to stand in the gap between us and God, to be our savior or on whom we set our highest hopes. We can hope, even expect, our pastors and church leaders to pray for us, to lead us to lament, to lament on our behalf. It's their job, their calling. Yet they are human, as was King David. But Jesus Christ-- the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth-- He prays for us, he hears our laments, and laments on our behalf. He bears our sorrow, misery, and grief on His own shoulders and answers them according to His faithful love. When every single other leader on earth--secular and religious--lets us down, Jesus won't. He won't. With God, we will perform valiantly, He will trample our foes. He will turn our misery to music. 💓💓
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