The Return on Presumption

Synopsis     1Kings 1:40-51     2/21/2019 

The people of Jerusalem rejoiced with shouts and singing. The entire city received the news of Solomon’s anointing with excitement and enthusiasm.  

From Adonijah’s feast, the guests heard the noise. Among these was Joab. And so, Joab wondered out loud what was causing the uproar in the city.  

About this time, Abiathar’s son Jonathan arrived at the feast. And he immediately reported the news that Solomon had been made king at David’s command.  

The members of Adonijah’s feast were terrified. No one wanted to be associated with a rebellion. So, each went immediately away from the feast and returned to their homes. But Adonijah went to the tabernacle and clung to the horns of the altar. He was afraid that Solomon would kill him because he had presumed to appoint himself king.  

Adonijah’s Return on Presumption 

Adonijah’s actions had a certain defensibility. Everyone involved in the crowning of Adonijah could plausibly claim they were only doing what they thought was best.  

For example, they could argue that Adonijah was the first-born surviving son – so who else would anyone expect to be king. And they could argue that King David was too old or infirm to make a good decision. Or they could explain that they were only following the lead of Joab. Or the lead of Abiathar. 

And all of these explanations might seem plausibly appropriate. What’s more, they could even be true. And for that matter, these explanations almost certainly helped Adonijah’s various supporters avoid full responsibility for their actions.  

But the unavoidable truth is that none of these bothered to ask David. None of these people respected David’s authority.

And so, even if they enjoyed plausible innocence, they didn’t gain a return on their investment. Their individual presumption reduced their personal effectiveness and endangered their careers and even their lives. 

The Return on Presumption 

There’s an expression: “It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask permission.” And it’s true. It is easier; in exactly the same way that it’s easier to make a poor investment than a wise one.

So, when I presume on those who have some form of authority over me, I make myself into either a naïve messenger, or a sophisticated liar. And neither will be trusted or tolerated forever. 

“But if a prophet presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.” Deut 18:20 

The Marks of Christ

Synopsis     1Kings 1:29-39     2/20/2019 

David once again took an oath affirming Solomon’s kingship. He then gave instructions to assemble key leaders. He called Zadok who was the High Priest. And he called Benaiah who was a military leader. And he called Nathan the prophet.   

He tasked these three men with taking Solomon before the Lord. Once there, David directed them to anoint Solomon king. And, Solomon rode King David’s mule to show that he was the new king.  

Solomon and King David’s Mule 

King David insisted Solomon ride on his mule. But the mule was reserved exclusively for the king. So, Solomon mounted on the mule was a sign for the people. And the sign signified that Solomon was David’s choice to serve as king.  

The Marks of Christ 

The son of a king bears the symbols of his king-father when he begins his own kindship. So, as a sign of his authority, he sits on the royal throne. And he wears a royal crown. And these marks express to the world who he is. And they express the role he plays. 

You are a Christ-follower. As such, you are born again as a child of God – a child of the king. And Jesus Christ is a king. And Christ destined you to rule with him.

So perhaps, in the midst of suffering for the sake of righteousness, something has injured you. Perhaps your injuries are even commemorated with scars. Recognize that your scars are the marks – the expressions – that tell the universe who you are in Christ.  

“From now on, let no one make troubles for me; for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body” Gal 6:17 

Water Finds Its Way

Synopsis     1Kings 1:16-27     2/19/2019 

Nathan the prophet had just learned that Adonijah had declared himself king. And so, he went to Bathsheba to warn her that she and her son were in danger.  

So, Bathsheba went in to King David. And she informed him concerning Adonijah. Then, she reminded him that he had sworn that Solomon would rule after him. And in this way, she let him know that Solomon’s life was in danger.  

As she spoke to the king, Nathan the prophet came in. He confirmed the news about Adonijah. And he expressed a similar concern. Adonijah had gotten the support of Abiathar, the high priest as well as Joab, the leader of the army.

Nathan and Bathsheba Save Solomon 

Adonijah had excluded Nathan from his crowning celebration. They were at odds. Accordingly, Nathan anticipated lost influence and power. And, for that matter, his life might have even been in danger.

Nathan could have gone to Solomon and encouraged him to approach King David. But he decided to go to Bathsheba instead.

Nathan knew that Solomon was the key to reversing Adonijah’s crowning. But he also knew that if Solomon defended his own right to reign, it would not be well received. A fight between brothers is one thing. But a beloved wife bereft of her child is another. And so, Nathan brought Bathsheba to persuade the king.  

Water Finds Its Way 

I get an idea in my head. Maybe it’s about business. Or maybe it’s about parenting. Or maybe it’s about anything. And somehow, the idea seems right. The more I think about it, the more right it seems.  

And that’s when it’s time to act. At some point, I have to make the decision to act on the things I believe to be right. No matter how great the risk, there is a pressure to act on belief. Doing what’s right, or what’s good or what’s beautiful, is like water flowing from a mountain. There is a certain inevitability about it. It will happen, the only question is what route the water will find on its journey down. 

When a person has determined that something must be, they will take any risk and fearlessly ask for any need in order to see their vision of righteousness fulfilled. They will not be deterred. 

Water always finds its way. 

“Rather let justice surge like waters, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.” Amos 5:24 

Entitlement in God’s Economy

Synopsis     1Kings 1:5-15     2/15/2109 

Adonijah was the son of Haggith. On the basis of birth order, he considered himself heir to the throne of his father King David.  

As a result, he adopted behaviors very much like his brother Absalom had done before him. He surrounded himself with a “reintue” of people and the trappings of royal splendor. In this sense, he was attempting to “speak” his election as king into existence. He was lobbying and positioning. He was politically aware.

And to this end, Adonijah cultivated favor with the power brokers of that time, who supported his father’s kingdom. So, unlike Absalom, he deliberately developed advantageous relationships with both Joab and Abiathar. He won the support of the general of the army and the High Priest of the Lord. And none of it was happenstance. For, he specifically built this network of relationships in order to assure he inherited his father’s crown. 

As a result, there is little evidence that Adonijah was interested in ruling his people well. And, unfortunately, there is a great deal of evidence to suggest he wanted the throne primarily to aggrandize himself. 

Adonijah the Entitled 

Adonijah viewed the throne as an inherited right. In this sense, he felt like the throne and the kingdom belonged to him. And from his perspective, the title of “king”, also rightfully belonged to him. In this way, he exactly expressed the “entitlement mentality”, that we moderns
so easily deride in our own time.

This way of thinking didn’t start with modern, poor people who over-rely on the government social safety net. It began here, with rich and demanding and irresponsible royal children. “Entitlement” means – the anticipation of certain privileges on the basis of an inherited title.  

Entitlement in God’s Economy 

God gives kingdoms and material resources to people in accordance with their respective capacity to create value and share it with others.

And this is God’s economy. Expressed through scripture, it’s God’s way of thinking about the appropriate use of resources.

Sure, God wants to fill your life with all sorts of good things. But His view isn’t to give resources just so a person can live a decadent life of value extraction and consumption.

He’s not going to give me a new house, or a new car, or a handsome spouse, or children, or any other material thing that I dream of, unless it increases my capacity to bless others.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” Matt 6:19-21 

Active Ministry is Practical

Synopsis     2Sam 24:22-1Kings 1:4     2/13/2019 

In accordance with the word of the Lord, David went to Araunah’s threshing floor. Once there, he purchased the place, along with the animals and yoke. He built an altar there. And then he offered the oxen in sacrifice. 

David aged. As he did, he became feeble. And he had trouble keeping his body warm. So, his servants proposed finding him a nurse. Having David’s permission, they conducted a search for a beautiful, young woman who could nurse David and keep the king warm in the night.  

So, they found Abishag, a Shunamite woman. And she served the king.  

Abishag and David 

Abishag was a young woman from a small town. She came from an unremarkable tribe. And, there is no reason to think she had any ambition to become part of the king’s court.   

So, David’s servants searched the whole of Israel for a nurse. And Abishag is who they found.  

But this wasn’t part of her life plan. Her anticipation was probably like that of her mother and her sisters. Accordingly, she expected to be given in marriage. And she hoped the marriage would produce children.  

So, taking the job as the king’s nurse wasn’t actually a solid career move. It was an act of mercy and kindness to a dying old man.  

Active Ministry is Practical Ministry 

I sometimes struggle with how to serve. It may sound strange, but I look for opportunities. And I pray that God would show me how best to meet the challenges of this age. The problem is, I want my service to be meaningful – to have real impact. And, I want to feel good about all this.  

But somehow, I have this creeping suspicion that God’s agenda is different than mine.  

“And whoever does not provide for relatives and especially family members has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1Tim 5:8 

Suffering, Fear and Chaos

Synopsis     2Sam 24:15-21     2/13/2019 

Gad had conveyed a grave choice from the Lord. Because of the sin of counting the people, David had to choose between three years of famine, three months of enemy pursuit or three days of plague. And David chose the plague. 

So the plague began. And in the end, it killed seventy thousand people. But God repented of the plague before the three days were actually up. He ordered the plague angel to cease. And the angel stopped in a particular location outside of Jerusalem.  The place was a threshing floor.

So, David went to the threshing floor with the intention of building an altar there, in accordance with Gad’s word from the Lord.  

The Threshing Floor of Araunah 

David knew difficulty throughout his life. And despite his own moral failures – despite his own sins, David grew through his experiences.  

So, Araunah’s threshing floor represented both aspects of growth. It represented God’s faithfulness in a storm of chaos. And, it represented David’s acknowledgement of God’s mercy and purpose in an altar.

And so, this episode was simultaneously an effective moment of grace and a memorializing of God’s same grace. These are elements of a sacramentel moment.

Suffering, Fear and Chaos 

This is the stuff of growth. My faith grows in suffering, fear and chaos.

So, embracing these is embracing my own formation. But avoiding them has the opposite effect.

“Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4 

Chose the Mercy of God

Synopsis     2Sam 24:4-14     2/12/2019 

At David’s command, Joab toured the entire kingdom of Israel. And after ten months, he completed the census journey.  

Following the completion of his tour, he reported to King David the results. According to his count, there were eight hundred thousand men in Israel. And there were five hundred thousand men in Judah. And all of these were capable of fighting for the kingdom.  

David immediately felt regret for having counted the people. And, he realized that he had incurred God’s wrath even before the prophet Gad came to him. But when the prophet came, he described three choices of punishment from the Lord.  

Of these, David took the punishment which seemed to him most likely to preserve him in a proximate relationship with God.  

David Chose the Mercy of God 

David chose the form of punishment that kept him most proximate to God. And, he chose against a form of punishment that would leave his fate in the hands of merciless men.  

There is a certain irony in David’s decision. For he knew that men. And though one might expect men to band together in solidarity during hard times, David recognized that men were actually untrustworthy in this regard.  

Conversely, he knew God. And so, he knew that would be merciful. What’s more, he knew that God was so faithful that he could trust in His mercy more than anything.  

I Will Chose the Mercy of God 

I’m always tempted to solve my own problems on my own terms. So, when I’ve sinned, I’m often tempted to solve the problem of my sin on my own. And so, I try to mitigate my sins through my own efforts.

For example; I did some bad,…so I’ll do some good to compensate. I abused a friend,…so I’ll be nice to a stranger to help mitigate my sense of guilt and shame.

But it’s not really the same as seeking the mercy of God. In fact, it’s a denial of God’s creative authority over my life. And the effect of that denial tends to transcend the moments of my “Do-It-Yourself” absolution.  

Of course, like a thoughtful parent, God is patient. But, He can afford to be. For He knows I can’t really do this myself.  

So in the sacrament, I learn slowly the meaning of falling on the rock, before the rock crushes me.  

“The one who falls on this stone will be dashed to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” Matt 21:44 

Focusing Beyond the Object

Synopsis     2Samuel 23:24:24:3     2/11/2019 

The writer recorded the names and heritage of each of “The Thirty”. These were David’s mighty men who fought with him valiantly even before he became king over Israel. 

At some time in his reign, David was moved to count the people of Israel in a census. So, he ordered Joab to tour the land and count the people. 

However, Joab was reluctant. He seemed to intuit that a census was contrary to God’s purposes. So, he attempted to discourage David. But David refused Joab. And so, he did not change his mind.  

David’s Motive for Census 

David’s motive for taking a census of the people was to ascertain the number of prospective warriors in his kingdom. But taking a census tends to de-narrativize the people. It made David look at the people from the perspective of how they could support his military campaigns.  

And this was contrary to the way that God operated in David’s life. Prior to the numbering census, David simply trusted God to bring the resources necessary to accomplish whatever task was at hand. But in this example, David wasn’t looking to accomplish anything. Instead, like the rich farmer in Jesus’ parable, he was trying to decide what to do with the almost unimagineable resources available to him. 

 Focusing Beyond the Object 

There is a certain wonder about this for modern readers. The modern tendency is to ask, “What could be wrong with wanting to know the number of people in the land?” The answer is in the way a census makes the king think about his people. A census numbers the people. In other words, it reduces the people to a mere number. It de-humanizes the people. And, it objectifies the people.  

And God’s people weren’t created so that one person should deny the humanity of another person. Instead, the children of Israel were to be a community of human and divine affirmation.  

This is a problem in my life. I am affected by the tendency to objectify other people. Maybe my challenge isn’t with objectifying women for personal gratification. But I objectify none-the-less whenever I look at the other person in some situation merely from the perspective of what they can do for me.  

The way of listening is a form of love for others. It means that I deliberately slowdown in my dealings with others. It means that I listen. And in listening, I come to discover that the other person is just that – a person. Each one I encounter has a story. And each one has hopes and dreams and desires for their life. 

And when I do that, I focus beyond the object that I’ve created. Suddenly, I get back to the person who was always there.  

“If you see a thief, you run with him; with adulterers you throw in your lot. You give your mouth free rein for evil; you yoke your tongue to deceit. And you sit and speak against your brother, slandering your mother’s son. When you do these things should I be silent? Do you think that I am like you? I accuse you, I lay out the matter before your eyes” Psalm 50:18-21 

Lord, I Am Not Worthy

Synopsis     2Sam 23:16-23     2/8/2019 

As David prepared for death, he and the people recounted the exploits of his mighty men. Once, while living in the wilderness, David had a craving. He wanted water from the cistern outside his hometown. But Philistine soldiers were garrisoned there. So, he could not visit. 

Amongst all of David’s early followers in the wilderness were two special groups. “The Three” and “The Thirty”. Members of the “The Three’ once heard David express this desire for a cup of water from Bethlehem. So, they made their way behind the enemy forces and drew some water for him. However, when they brought the water for him to drink, he refused to drink it. 

Abishai and Benaiah similarly made a name for themselves through their extraordinary military exploits. These two were part of “The Thirty”. In fact, Abishai was the leader of “The Thirty”. But even so, the scripture carefully distinguishes that even these exploits were not comparable to those of the elite “Three”.   

The Water of “The Three” 

“The Three” made their way through enemy lines to bring David the desire of his heart. He wanted water. He wanted the water he remembered from his childhood. And so, these men risked their lives to satisfy this desire.  

But David could not accept the gift. Something had happened to the water. As desirable and delicious as it would have been for David to drink, the container now carried in it more than just a special taste. For David, it carried the life of the people who risked everything to bring it.  

And, according to scripture, the life of any person is in the person’s blood. So, as David saw it, the water was no longer only water, but blood. It was the blood these valiant friends were willing to risk for David’s sake.  

But David also understood that this was not his to take. Under the Law of Moses, God forbade the consumption of blood. And this, because life is essentially holy and sacred. It was not David’s to receive. The life, no matter how freely given, belonged only to God. It could only belong to God. And so, David gave it back to God, by pouring out the water on the ground, as a sacrifice of blood.  

And “The Three” were not offended at the waste of their effort. For, they recognized that their love for David had had its effect.  

Lord I Am Not Worthy 

A man once said to me, “I do not have the right to consume the life, the blood, of another person. This is, in fact, an abomination to the Lord.”  

He talked about how he often felt a certain revulsion. “The thought of consuming the blood of another is repulsive,” he said, “Not merely because of the horrible ickyness of it.  But rather because the life is in the blood. I can have no legitimate claim on the life of another – let alone the Holy One of Israel.”  

And I felt that. So, I silently asked the Lord, “How can I share in your life? How can I, a miserable sinner, participate in your righteousness? What share could I possibly have with the Holy One of Israel?” 

And then I heard, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” 

And so, I pass through the revulsion. Like air in my lungs, this one thing matters. And so I say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof – but only say the word and I shall be healed.”

And I am healed.

“Lord, I am not worthy…” Matt 8:8 

God’s Glory in Me

Synopsis     2Sam 23:6-14     2/7/2019 

King David had a group of loyal men who had gained renown for their military exploits. The people memorialized them for their glorious deeds. 

This was apparently a small group of men number just over thirty. These men were memorialized in two groups. First in mention and in accomplishment was the group of three.  Ishbaal, son of Hachamoni, was the chief of the three. The other two were Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite and Shammah, son of Agee the Hararite.  

Each of the “Three” had accomplished a remarkable feat in battle. 

The Glory of the Three 

Three men distinguished themselves so completely that they became known as “The Three”. And, according to the scriptures, the glory of the “Three” was incomparable.  

God’s Glory in Me 

But what is glory anyway?  

A person, or even a thing, is glorious by virtue of how it expresses the wisdom that causes it. So, the purer the expression and the better the wisdom, the more glorious the example.  

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” John 15:5