2 SAMUEL 19 - DEALING WITH GRIEF
2 Samuel 19
In the last Chapter, David’s son, Absalom, who had usurped David’s throne as King of Israel, was finally defeated and killed in battle by soldiers loyal to David. David was the one anointed by God to be King, and Absalom was not. Absalom was a traitor, a rebel, and a deceiver, but he was still David’s son. His death understandably brought much grief to David. Yet, to an extent, his death was one of the consequences of the sin that David had committed in taking Bathsheba and murdering her husband Uriah, which had greatly upset his family dynamics.
In the first part of Chapter 19, David exhibits a lack of gratitude for those who have fought for him to be restored to the throne. He is more concerned about his own grief over the loss of Absalom, who had temporarily taken the throne away from him, than he is over those who risked their lives to remain loyal to him and to fight for the defeat of Absalom. As a result, we see in Vs. 3 that those who had supported him and fought for him are ashamed to even enter the City of Jerusalem where David is to reign as King.
Grief is a normal human emotion that we experience at times because we live in a fallen world, and Jesus even experienced it during His time here. God is near to the broken-hearted (Ps. 34:18), and Is. 42:3 says that a bruised reed, He will not break. Thankfully, in Heaven grief will be gone, because Rev. 21:4 assures us that God will wipe away every tear, and that there will be no more mourning. However, when we allow our grief in this world to become excessively self-focused, it can cause us to lose sight of our blessings. Here, David had been blessed with many loyal supporters, and yet his excessive self-focused grief led him to not remember them, and they were deeply hurt.
God, who is always in control, then causes Joab, the commander of David’s army, to go speak to David about this situation, and in Vs. 5-7, he calls David to repentance. David listens to Joab, and shows true fruits of repentance in that he goes and delivers a supportive message to the people in Vs. 11-15.
We can’t avoid grief, and grief by itself is not always a bad thing, for God can use it to change us. Yet, in the midst of our grief, we need to remember that God is still in control, and we need to keep our eyes fixed on Him, not our selves or our circumstances. In Numbers 21, we see that even though fiery serpents were biting the people, that if they kept their eyes focused on the uplifted provision of God, which was the bronze serpent in the hand of Moses, they would not die. Jesus later speaks in John 3:14 of the bronze serpent as being a representation of Himself. When Peter walks on water, we see that as long as he kept his eyes focused on Jesus, he could do the impossible, and yet, the moment he takes his eyes off of Jesus and focuses instead on the wind and waves around him, down he goes.
When grief strikes us, we also need to remember that God is still good and that His blessings are all around us. We just have to not let our grief blind us so that we cannot see His blessings. No matter what is taken away from us in this life, we will always have our salvation, and in 1 Pet. 5:7, we are invited to cast all of our cares upon Him who saves us. And, Rom. 8:32 assures us that if God would give up His Son to save us, He will also continue to bless us in all things.
In the second half of Chapter 19, David shows tremendous forgiveness towards those who had been against him. This was something he could not do so long as he was all bound up in his self-focused grief. One by one, many of the leaders who had turned against David come and beg him for forgiveness and to spare their lives. With a heart full of recognition of God’s blessings in his own life, despite his own sin, David is able to pardon the sins of these people against him, and to spare their lives.
This gives us a beautiful picture of the forgiveness we have received from our Heavenly King, Jesus. Like those who had turned against David, we have all at one point in our lives turned against God and rebelled against Him. In fact, the Bible says that we were actually born that way. So, sin is a double problem for us, in that we were all born into sin, and we all sin. There simply is no way on our own to escape it or its consequences, which the Bible says are death and eternal separation from the God of all blessings. This is why we all need a Savior, who was sinless Himself, but who took our sins upon Himself, so that He could die in our place. By faith in Him, and what He has done for us, we can be forgiven of our sins and be made right with the One true God of both Heaven and earth.