The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying God's providence or divine providence in the lives of David and Joseph and how we can apply His providence in their lives to our lives today.
The providence of God or divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. Divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe. He is in control of the physical world. He is in control of the affairs of nations. He is in control of human destiny. He is in control of human successes and failures. He protects His people.
In Session 17 we talk about genuine repentance. The kind of repentance that came about after David confessed his sins in connection with his affair with Bathsheba. When we repent, God promises us restitution and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He does not promise relief from any and all consequences, but He promises a relief that only the Spirit of God can give.
For our study we will be using Great Lives: David: A Man of Passion and Destiny, by Charles R. Swindoll, and The Hand of God by Alistair Begg. To study along with us you can purchase the books by clicking the Links here or the images after the notes.
The providence of God or divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. Divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe as a whole, He is in control of the physical world, He is in control of the affairs of nations, He’s in control of human destiny, He’s in control of human successes and failures, He protects His people. Through divine providence God accomplishes His will.
What is God’s Providence by Mary Sutherland
All of us have questions about who God is and how He works. Those who don't know God have significant questions. Those who know God but not very well also have big questions. One part of God we don't often understand is God's Providence. So, let's get a working definition of providence.
Providence comes from the root word provide.
God's plan never lacks God's resources.
Too often, we take a Deist point of view. Deists believe God created the world and then just turned it loose. They don't think God is involved in our everyday lives. Not so! When God makes a plan – God makes a way. When God makes a plan – he also provides. That's where faith comes in.
Faith is the quiet certainty that God keeps His promises. Unfortunately, we don't like to wait on God with "quiet certainty." We see a need, and instead of seeking God's wisdom and timing, we make a plan we think will meet that need and then, with earthly resources, see that the plan is executed. As a result, we often settle for so much less than God had in mind.
Where God guides, He also provides.
! He has a plan for us and provides resources for us to fulfill that plan.
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28
That is the goodness of God. That is the character of God. That is the providence of God.
Effective Confrontation
To be effective in confrontation we need to equip ourselves with four things. If not, we can do more damage than good.
First, absolute truth. Don’t go on hearsay. Get the facts. It may take time. You may have to investigate.
Second, right timing. Many people are confronted at the wrong time and as a result are driven deeper into their wrong because thoughtless Christians went off in a hurry to do something in the spurt of emotion. Wait until you are confident that it’s God’s timing and do it privately.
Third, wise wording. The right words are crucial. If you don’t have your wording worked out, don’t go. Wait.
Proverbs 25:11-12 NIV Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given. Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is the rebuke of a wise judge to a listening ear.
Fourth, fearless courage. Don’t fear the loss of friendship. God honors the truth. After all, it is the truth—and only the truth—that sets people free. If the Lord is really in it, you’ll be one of the best friends this person ever had by telling him the truth. Be certain you’re confronting out of love. One who doesn’t love doesn’t confront—at least he doesn’t confront God’s way.
As a result of Nathan confronting David about his sin David I think feels a sense of relief. Finally, someone knows the truth and the secret is out and as a result he confesses and repents.
2 Samuel 12:7-13 NIV Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” …
God forgives David but tells him there will be consequences
2 Samuel 12:13-14 NIV Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
2 Samuel 12:11-12 NIV “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ”
Genuine repentance.
After more than nine months of silence, David confesses his sin to the Lord.
This confession was the beginning of repentance in David’s life, expressed in Psalm 51.
There are things in Psalm 51 that point to genuine repentance.
Psalms 51:1-19 NIV Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
How can we know that repentance is genuine?
The word repentance in the Bible means “the act of changing one’s mind.” True biblical repentance goes beyond remorse, regret, or feeling bad about one’s sin. It involves more than merely turning away from sin. Eerdmans Bible Dictionary includes this definition of repentance: “In its fullest sense it is a term for a complete change of orientation involving a judgment upon the past and a deliberate redirection for the future.”
Repentance in the Bible involves a complete and irreversible change of mind, heart, and actions. Repentance recognizes that our sin is offensive to God. To repent means to make an about-face, heart-directed turn away from self to God, from the past to a future ruled by God’s commands, acknowledging that the Lord reigns supreme over one’s existence.
1) True repentance involves a sense of awareness of one’s own guilt, sinfulness, and helplessness (Psalm 51:4–10; 109:21–22).
2) True repentance apprehends or takes hold of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ (Psalm 51:1; 130:4).
3) True repentance means a change of attitude and action regarding sin. Hatred of sin turns the repentant person away from his or her sin to God (Psalm 119:128; Job 42:5–6; 2 Corinthians 7:10).
4) True repentance results in a radical and persistent pursuit of holy living, walking with God in obedience to His commands (2 Timothy 2:19–22; 1 Peter 1:16).
When we repent, God promises us restitution and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He does not promise relief from all consequences, but He promises a relief that only the Spirit of God can give.
Trouble at Home
A consequence of sin and disobedience in David’s life was a very dysfunctional family. It started with his lust for women. We all remember, we don’t have to go through it again. He had a lot of wives, concubines, and a lot of children by different women and they were all in the same palace.
Remember we talked about three things the Lord said that the king of Israel was not to do.
Deuteronomy 17:14-17 NIV When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
David was obeyed on the not returning to Egypt and not accumulating large amounts of silver and gold for himself, but he disobeyed on the many wives thing, and that caused the disfunction in the family because it is humanly impossible to satisfy all those women and coral all those children and run a kingdom at the same time so they were “on their own”.
The Lord gives us that warning ahead of time because the devil or the flesh or the world will work havoc on our thinking,
Galatians 6:7-8 NIV Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
We think, because of God's grace and 1John 1:9 that if we simply confess our sins and claim God’s forgiveness, then all the consequences of what we have done will be quickly whisked away. Not the case.
Grace means that God, in forgiving you, does not kill you. Grace means that God, forgiving you, gives you the strength to endure the consequences. Grace frees us so that we can obey our Lord. It does not mean sin’s consequences are automatically removed.
So, God forgives David, in this case of adultery and murder, but he tells him that there will be consequences.
You are going to have some big-time family issues.
David has been forgiven, but his problems are not over. Trouble will come upon David’s household.
2 Samuel 12:10-12 NIV Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ”
It is clear from verse ten that there are going to be some serious family issues.
First was David’s infidelity with Bathsheba. At least he was married to these women and the concubines were unmarried, but Bathsheba was married at the time.
Look at 2 Samuel 12:11 again.
2 Samuel 12:11 NIV “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.
In the same place where David started down the road of adultery, his roof, look at what his son did.
2 Samuel 16:21-22 NIV Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
The child conceived in adultery died.
2 Samuel 12:15, 18 NIV After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
The third consequence is that one of David’s sons rapes his half-sister.
2 Samuel 3:2-5 NIV Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel; his second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom the son of Maakah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream the son of David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.
2 Samuel 13:1 NIV In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David.
Here's what happened
2 Samuel 13:6-14 NIV So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, “I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand.” David sent word to Tamar at the palace: “Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him.” So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it. Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat. “Send everyone out of here,” Amnon said. So everyone left him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, “Come to bed with me, my sister.” “No, my brother!” she said to him. “Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.” But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.
Step four, a brother hates a brother. Lust has led to rape; rape has led to hatred; and now hatred leads to the next step, which is murder.
David obviously knew about all this, but he didn't do anything about it
2 Samuel 13:20, 22 NIV Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has that Amnon, your brother, been with you? Be quiet for now, my sister; he is your brother. Don’t take this thing to heart.” And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a desolate woman. And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.
So because David didn't handle it Absalom does he murders his half-brother
2 Samuel 13:23-29 NIV Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king’s sons to come there. Absalom went to the king and said, “Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his attendants please join me?” “No, my son,” the king replied. “All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go but gave him his blessing. Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us.” The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?” But Absalom urged him, so he sent with him Amnon and the rest of the king’s sons. Absalom ordered his men, “Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Haven’t I given you this order? Be strong and brave.” So Absalom’s men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered. Then all the king’s sons got up, mounted their mules and fled.
That was step five.
step six: rebellion.
2 Samuel 13:37-38 NIV Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. But King David mourned many days for his son. After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years.
When Absalom fled, he went to Geshur. That’s where his grandfather lived—his mother's father, who was a king in Geshur. While there he sets up his plan later on, to lead a revolt against his daddy. And that’s precisely what he does.
Joab, one of David’s military leaders, you remember him from the Uriah conspiracy talks David into bringing Absalom back and David agrees but refuses to see Absalom for 2 years. Read about it in 2 Samuel 13.
Meanwhile Absalom is putting a couple together
2 Samuel 15:1-6 NIV In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.” Then Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you.” And Absalom would add, “If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that they receive justice.” Also, whenever anyone approached him to bow down before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel.
As a result, David must run for his life. Absalom disgraced David by sleeping with his concubines on the roof and there is a war between the supporters of Absalom and David. All this is in 2 Samuel 15 through 18.
Finally, Joab murders Absalom. The sword has not departed from David’s house.
2 Samuel 18:9-17 NIV Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going. When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.” Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels of silver and a warrior’s belt.” But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.’ And if I had put my life in jeopardy—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.” Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him. Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.
Surely David regrets the day he even looked at Bathsheba and carried on a year of deception. And finally, in the backwash of rape, conspiracy, rebellion, hatred, and murder, he’s sitting alone in the palace, no doubt perspiring to the point of exhaustion, and in comes a runner bearing shocking news.
David is a beaten man. He’s strung out, sobbing as if he’s lost his mind. Every crutch removed. He’s at the end, broken and bruised, twisted, and confused. The Harvesting of his sins is more than he can bear.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reaps.
If you have taken lightly the grace of God, if you have tip-toed through the corridors of the kingdom, picking and choosing sin or righteousness at will, thinking grace covers it all, you’ve missed it, my friend. You’ve missed it by a mile. In fact, it’s quite likely that you are harvesting the bitter blossoms, the consequences, of the seeds of sin planted in the past. Perhaps right now you are living in a compromising situation, or right on the edge of one. You are skimming along the surface, hoping it’ll never catch up.But God is not mocked. It will. Trust me on this one .it will.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
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