5/06/2012
“Wisdom Versus Rashness”
Sometimes problems can be so complex, so mangled, that it appears they will never be manageable. Imagine that your land, the land in which you live, your government, is in an unsettled state. Imagine that the times in which you live are chaotic. And imagine that those around you not sure just who they should follow. Imagine, for just a moment that your life is very unsettled. And you will have a picture of the days of King David as he returned to reclaim his throne in the city of Jerusalem. Would you open your Bible with me to the Book of II Samuel chapter twenty?
King David returned to his throne only to find a completely unsettled nation; so unsettled in fact, that eighty per cent of the people abandoned his leadership.
And now, imagine the larger picture and that is this Your Heavenly Father, the Judge of the whole earth, is in absolute control. And He has often permitted such heavy times to fall upon nations. And, if the heavy times fall upon nations, they fall upon each one inside that nation. This is, for sure, a very difficult time for the one we have come to know and love, the sweet singer of Israel, the blessed Psalmist, King David.
Would you take your Bible with me and open it to II Samuel chapter twenty?
I’ve titled today’s sermon “Wisdom Versus Rashness” for a reason. You will always have days when you think you are facing something too big to handle, times of trouble. Yet, you know that during these times God is watching your heart to see if you are willing to learn from those times. It’s true that some of us, sometimes, plod on in hopes of a better day, forgetting and sometimes forsaking the reality that your spiritual life is being worked on by Heaven itself.
God, as you know, is a Father/Teacher. He knows where He wants us to go morally. He knows the very things that will develop your character. He knows what goes into making you a man of God or a woman of God. And when you’ve chosen a path that is immoral, as David had; can you expect God to simply overlook the sin, to dismiss it, and to not enable you to profit, to learn from it?
That’s at least part of the reason we find David, on his return to Jerusalem, laden with trouble. Shall we pray?
II Samuel twenty is the record of four major individuals that played a huge role in David’s life. And these four lives teach us lessons that pertain to our spiritual lives today.
There’s Joab, the man of death. We’ll consider lessons from his life another day. There’s Amasa. David decided to replace Joab as the captain of the Israeli army. Then there is Sheba, a man who simply refused to bow his knee either to David or to God. And last, in II Samuel we’ll find the wisest of the four. She’s unnamed. But, as you are about to see, a woman of wisdom will do a lot for your home, your town, and your life.
Today I’d like to have you learn from the lives of two of these four individuals. And the question is this. What does the Holy Spirit teach us today about two people who lived in this world some three thousand years ago. One, as you will see teaches us the value of wisdom, the other the problem of rashness = “hasty and reckless boldness.”
Today I’d like to direct your heart and mind to two of these characters: Sheba and the wisdom woman.
The first individual is this man Sheba. Look with me at II Samuel twenty verse one. II Samuel 20:1 “And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
(2) So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.”
Talk about trouble. Try, for just a moment, to see this from the viewpoint of those who are in charge – David and his fellow leaders. After all that has just come down upon David; after now seeing God restore him to the throne, David comes home to a huge shock. A man named Sheba initiates an insurrection.
Absalom, if you’ll remember with me, had slain David’s firstborn son Amnon. Now Absalom has just overthrown his father and attempted to take control of the throne of Israel. He has now been killed by David’s military captain Joab. David, I’m sure, is still reeling from that loss. And, just as he begins to get his footing and, literally, get back on his throne, Sheba goes into insurrection mode. An insurrection, by the way, is simply a rebellion against authority.
But, let’s see just why the LORD has left Sheba on the pages of Scripture.
Here is a verse from the NT on the history of the OT. I Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
King David returned to his throne only to find a completely unsettled nation; so unsettled in fact, that eighty per cent of the people abandoned his leadership.
And now, imagine the larger picture and that is this Your Heavenly Father, the Judge of the whole earth, is in absolute control. And He has often permitted such heavy times to fall upon nations. And, if the heavy times fall upon nations, they fall upon each one inside that nation. This is, for sure, a very difficult time for the one we have come to know and love, the sweet singer of Israel, the blessed Psalmist, King David.
Would you take your Bible with me and open it to II Samuel chapter twenty?
I’ve titled today’s sermon “Wisdom Versus Rashness” for a reason. You will always have days when you think you are facing something too big to handle, times of trouble. Yet, you know that during these times God is watching your heart to see if you are willing to learn from those times. It’s true that some of us, sometimes, plod on in hopes of a better day, forgetting and sometimes forsaking the reality that your spiritual life is being worked on by Heaven itself.
God, as you know, is a Father/Teacher. He knows where He wants us to go morally. He knows the very things that will develop your character. He knows what goes into making you a man of God or a woman of God. And when you’ve chosen a path that is immoral, as David had; can you expect God to simply overlook the sin, to dismiss it, and to not enable you to profit, to learn from it?
That’s at least part of the reason we find David, on his return to Jerusalem, laden with trouble. Shall we pray?
II Samuel twenty is the record of four major individuals that played a huge role in David’s life. And these four lives teach us lessons that pertain to our spiritual lives today.
There’s Joab, the man of death. We’ll consider lessons from his life another day. There’s Amasa. David decided to replace Joab as the captain of the Israeli army. Then there is Sheba, a man who simply refused to bow his knee either to David or to God. And last, in II Samuel we’ll find the wisest of the four. She’s unnamed. But, as you are about to see, a woman of wisdom will do a lot for your home, your town, and your life.
Today I’d like to have you learn from the lives of two of these four individuals. And the question is this. What does the Holy Spirit teach us today about two people who lived in this world some three thousand years ago. One, as you will see teaches us the value of wisdom, the other the problem of rashness = “hasty and reckless boldness.”
Today I’d like to direct your heart and mind to two of these characters: Sheba and the wisdom woman.
The first individual is this man Sheba. Look with me at II Samuel twenty verse one. II Samuel 20:1 “And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
(2) So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.”
Talk about trouble. Try, for just a moment, to see this from the viewpoint of those who are in charge – David and his fellow leaders. After all that has just come down upon David; after now seeing God restore him to the throne, David comes home to a huge shock. A man named Sheba initiates an insurrection.
Absalom, if you’ll remember with me, had slain David’s firstborn son Amnon. Now Absalom has just overthrown his father and attempted to take control of the throne of Israel. He has now been killed by David’s military captain Joab. David, I’m sure, is still reeling from that loss. And, just as he begins to get his footing and, literally, get back on his throne, Sheba goes into insurrection mode. An insurrection, by the way, is simply a rebellion against authority.
But, let’s see just why the LORD has left Sheba on the pages of Scripture.
Here is a verse from the NT on the history of the OT. I Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”