READING: 2 Samuel 8-12
Reading today’s text is almost like riding a roller coaster. The high moments are high and exhilarating, and the low moments are low and agonizing. The apparent speed with which we travel seems quick and ominous.
On one hand, God guided and protected David and his forces as they took on enemies and extended David’s kingdom. Enemy king after enemy king went down in battle; in fact, the text twice summarizes, “The Lord made David victorious wherever he went” (2 Sam 8:6, 14). David continually honored the Lord with his faithfulness and trust in those days.
On the other hand, this dramatically different statement summarizes David’s sordid episode of adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah: “the Lord considered what David had done to be evil” (2 Sam 11:27). The mountaintops of military victory had now become the valley of lust, coveting, and cover-up. The same king who had honored the Lord had now dishonored Him in unexpected, if not astonishing, ways.
Were the roller coaster ride to end here, this story would be even more tragic. But . . . God sent a prophet to confront David, David repented in such a way that he would later write Psalm 51, and God gave the king a beloved son, Solomon, who would become the next king. The God in charge of the ride would accomplish His plan, including bringing a Messiah through this line.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Where are you on the roller coaster today?
DAILY PRAYER: “God, show me if/where I’m on the downhill slope of the ride.”
MONDAY’S READING: 2 Samuel 13-15
