SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Alderwood Community Church Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Join us as we are in the second movement of our David series called Forged by Fire.
SPEAKER_00: In these chapters, David is shaped not in the comfort of success, but through adversity.
SPEAKER_00: Through friendship, patience, worship, and deep dependence, David learns what it means to trust God when nothing makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: Let's jump in.
SPEAKER_01: Where it seems like the hits just keep on coming and you don't know what God is up to, and you're trying your best and you're trying to do what you're supposed to do, and you feel like you're even being obedient to where God has you in this moment, and yet it's just not going well.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever been there, then I think you're gonna relate with our story this morning because that's exactly where we are in the life of David.
SPEAKER_01: It's this period of time when it seems like everything should be going well now, and it just doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: And what we're gonna look at today is this reality that when life is hard, God wants to grow your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: You ever find yourself asking that question, God, why are you allowing this?
SPEAKER_01: God, what are you doing in this moment?
SPEAKER_01: If you're in this, why is it so hard?
SPEAKER_01: At least one aspect of what God is doing in that moment is He's trying to do something in you.
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to invite you in to something deeper in your relationship with Him.
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to grow your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see how that works today in our passage.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been with us in this series, it's been a roller coaster.
SPEAKER_01: The life of David, I mean, it's just this amazing, uh, this amazing story in 1st and 2 Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: So many different things happening.
SPEAKER_01: We've seen the high highs of David and Goliath, we've seen some low lows, and we're in this really pivotal kind of transition period of David's life, and we're early in the book of 2 Samuel at this point.
SPEAKER_01: If we want to turn there, we're gonna start in 2 Samuel chapter 2 this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But what's just happened is that the king over Israel, who's been king for most of this story, King Saul, is this man who was unfaithful to God and did a lot of evil things, he's finally died.
SPEAKER_01: And David, as a young boy, was promised that he would be king over all of Israel one day.
SPEAKER_01: And really, for like 20 years now, David has been waiting for that promise to be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: And Saul has been the one in the way.
SPEAKER_01: He's been the one on the throne, and he's been the one stopping David from becoming king.
SPEAKER_01: But now that's over.
SPEAKER_01: It's this period of life where it seems like God's gonna do what he promised, and David's gonna come sit on the throne, and everyone should cheer, and they kind of they should live happily ever after.
SPEAKER_01: But this is not a happily ever after moment.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna get harder and harder, and we're gonna see that uh as we pick up here.
SPEAKER_01: This is 2 Samuel chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: And one thing to just note about this moment in David's life is that he's doing pretty well spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: He's had this really dark period of time for a number of years where he kind of pushed God out of his life and made some really bad decisions, but he's come back, he's had some spiritual revival, and now he's really leaning on God.
SPEAKER_01: And so the throne now is vacant, Saul's gone, but rather than just run in and try to grab it himself, David stops.
SPEAKER_01: He seeks the Lord's wisdom and guidance.
SPEAKER_01: He says, God, what do you want me to do?
SPEAKER_01: And God tells him to go to the south.
SPEAKER_01: God tells him to go to this city called Hebron in the tribe of Judah, and this is what happens in verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
SPEAKER_01: It's this really interesting thing because in some ways, this is like the fulfillment of what God promised.
SPEAKER_01: For 20 years, David has been waiting to be anointed king.
SPEAKER_01: But it's only a partial fulfillment.
SPEAKER_01: Like the rest of that sentence is pretty important.
SPEAKER_01: He was anointed king over the house of Judah.
SPEAKER_01: Judah is just one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: There's 11 other ones, but he's starting off in Judah.
SPEAKER_01: So here's where we are.
SPEAKER_01: This is the map of the day.
SPEAKER_01: This brown area down here to the south, the border kind of runs like this.
SPEAKER_01: This is the area of Judah, and that is where David is right now.
SPEAKER_01: And the tribe of Judah, they've said, David, you're our king, you're the one God has chosen, we're gonna follow you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and Judah's a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: You can see how much territory they have.
SPEAKER_01: One tribe of the twelve controls almost half the territory, but there is still this whole area to the north, all this green-shad area.
SPEAKER_01: That is what's called Israel.
SPEAKER_01: That's where the other 11 tribes are.
SPEAKER_01: And while in Judah, David is being anointed king, up north, uh Saul had a lot more influence in the north, and they're not ready to follow David.
SPEAKER_01: They're trying to find the next king to follow Saul, and they're looking within Saul's family.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it says next, that Abner, son of Nur, commander of Saul's army, took Saul's son Ishbosheth and moved him to Mahanim, that's in the north.
SPEAKER_01: He made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, over all Israel.
SPEAKER_01: So what's happened now is God's people, Israel, has been split in two.
SPEAKER_01: There's now two people who have been anointed king.
SPEAKER_01: And this is starting to get a little bit complex, and our our story is getting more characters in it now than just David and Saul.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to help us kind of wrap our mind around what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: Here's kind of the graph of who's involved in our story today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh this is about God's kingdom being divided.
SPEAKER_01: Over here on the left, you have the southern kingdom of Judah, and that's where David is king.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and David has military commanders who are serving him.
SPEAKER_01: His general is Joab, and Joab has two brothers who are also military officers, Abishai and Asahel.
SPEAKER_01: And no one can make fun of Asahel's name because he's a mighty warrior.
SPEAKER_01: But uh he this is the trio that has influence in the army, all brothers.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the north you have Israel and Ish Bosheth is king, and I don't want to say that name a bunch today, so we're gonna call him Ish from now on.
SPEAKER_01: So Ish is king, and his general is Abner, but it's a little bit weird what's going on in the north.
SPEAKER_01: You may have noticed, it was a little bit strange what we just read, that last verse.
SPEAKER_01: It said that Abner took Ish to Mehanim and made him king.
SPEAKER_01: Abner is actually like the power broker, he's the one with influence, the general is the one with power.
SPEAKER_01: Ish is actually just like a puppet king.
SPEAKER_01: His name, Ish Bosheth, in Hebrew, it means man of shame.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, everyone knows he's not really the king.
SPEAKER_01: Abner's actually in charge.
SPEAKER_01: Ish is the puppet king on the throne, and you've got this divided kingdom now.
SPEAKER_01: And the question is, like, okay, what what's gonna happen, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like what are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: Neither side is gonna submit to the other, neither side is gonna bow to the other side's king, but these are brothers, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, these are are people who've been fighting side by side against the Philistines.
SPEAKER_01: All of these people are God's people, this is God's nation.
SPEAKER_01: Like, how are we going to get this resolved?
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know about you, but like, if I'm David at this point, are you not just getting a little bit fed up with all this stuff?
SPEAKER_01: It's been 20 years.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, God promised you that you were gonna be king over all of Israel, and then he has this really long, like over a decade period of time when he has to be on the run from Saul, and he's he's living in the wilderness, and his life is in danger, and he has no place to sleep, and he's separated from his family.
SPEAKER_01: A decade.
SPEAKER_01: And then Saul finally is dead, and it's like, okay, God, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, you're gonna fulfill this promise.
SPEAKER_01: And then 11 of the tribes don't even submit to David, and they appoint another king, and like here we are with a potential civil war on our hands.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if if I'm David, I'm like, God, enough already, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Like, this is my question.
SPEAKER_01: When does this get easier?
SPEAKER_01: God, when are you just gonna like intervene and fix this stuff?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever felt that way?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever asked God that question?
SPEAKER_01: God, when is this gonna get easier?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you letting this be so hard?
SPEAKER_01: Uh this really is the season of David's life.
SPEAKER_01: We're we're flying this morning, we're covering three chapters.
SPEAKER_01: These three chapters they represent seven and a half years.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is that God's answer to David in this point is it doesn't get easier anytime soon.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna spiral, it's gonna get harder and harder.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's more challenges after one another.
SPEAKER_01: And I would love to preach this morning the optimistic message of like just hang in there, God's gonna deliver you any second.
SPEAKER_01: Here is a situation where God actually is gonna let David sit in the heart.
SPEAKER_01: Not because he's against David, because he has a greater purpose.
SPEAKER_01: He is forging David, he is forming David in the fire right now, he's preparing him for what he has, and he's using difficulty to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And here's how that difficulty begins.
SPEAKER_01: We have this divided kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, David and uh Judah are in the south, uh, Ish and his people are in the north, and again, like no one really knows what's supposed to happen.
SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit awkward, and they they meet in the middle.
SPEAKER_01: Joab takes troops from the south up to this spot uh called uh, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I forgot what it's called, sorry, look it up later.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh they meet in the middle, and Ish brings, or Abner brings Ish's troops down, and they're they're at this spring, and they're just like looking across from each other.
SPEAKER_01: And again, it's like they're not at war yet, right?
SPEAKER_01: They're brothers, they're on the same side, but they have separate kings, and it no one knows quite what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And these armies are across from each other, and that is where the two generals uh they get just a really, really bad idea.
SPEAKER_01: This is what happens.
SPEAKER_01: They they speak to each other.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Abner is the general from the north, Joab is the general from the south, and this is what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Then Abner said to Joab, let's have the young men get up and compete in front of us.
SPEAKER_01: Let them get up, Joab replied.
SPEAKER_01: Let's have a competition.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, you're reading that, you're like, what are we talking about here?
SPEAKER_01: What what kind of competition?
SPEAKER_01: Are we playing flag football?
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_01: And you shouldn't think about flag football here.
SPEAKER_01: You should think a competition like the Hunger Games.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: What they're really saying is, let's pick some warriors and let's send them in the middle, and we'll tell them to kill each other, and that can kind of show us who really deserves to be the people in charge over Israel, who's more formidable as a fighting force.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what they do.
SPEAKER_01: They they count off 12 young warriors from each side, and they send them to the middle, and it's 12 one-on-one battles, and it ends up becoming just this senseless tragedy that has no point to it.
SPEAKER_01: And and what happens, and it's all it's the text describes this in this really strange way where it's almost like choreographed, it feels like, but in every single battle, all 12, they kill each other.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone dies, all 24, 12 on each side, they kill each other and they're dead.
SPEAKER_01: And now both these armies just witnessed 12 of their own men getting massacred, and now this thing becomes a real civil war.
SPEAKER_01: Like now that what they've witnessed, now they're angry, now they're hot, now they're ready to fight, and both sides end up picking up arms, and both armies go at it that day, and there's a huge battle.
SPEAKER_01: And Joab with David's troops, they get the upper hand, and Abner's troops flee back to the north.
SPEAKER_01: But now Joab and his men, I mean, they're angry, they're not about to let Abner just get away.
SPEAKER_01: So they chase after them and they're killing them as they retreat.
SPEAKER_01: And again, it just spirals even worse because Asahel, remember, that's Joab's younger brother, he decides to go kill Abner.
SPEAKER_01: And he's he's known as like the fastest person in the army.
SPEAKER_01: So he takes off and he's trying to get Abner, and you see kind of the tragedy of what's happening here in this conversation that Abner, the general from the north, and Asahel, this military commander from the south, that they have this back and forth while Asahel is trying to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: Abner is like trying to talk him down.
SPEAKER_01: This is what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Once again, Abner warned Asahel stop chasing me.
SPEAKER_01: Why should I strike you to the ground?
SPEAKER_01: How could I ever look your brother Joab in the face?
SPEAKER_01: And this is the tragedy, right?
SPEAKER_01: These guys know each other.
SPEAKER_01: They're brothers.
SPEAKER_01: They've been in battle together side by side.
SPEAKER_01: Abner saying, Stop coming after me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to kill you.
SPEAKER_01: Don't force my hand.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to have to look your brother Joab, who I know in the face, knowing that I had to kill his brother.
SPEAKER_01: But Asahel doesn't listen.
SPEAKER_01: Asahel refused to turn away.
SPEAKER_01: So Abner hit him in the stomach with the butt of his spear, and the spear went through his body, and he fell and died right there.
SPEAKER_01: And this is where kind of the course has been set, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because like any hope that this battle was gonna be like this one-off thing, and they were gonna wake up the next morning and realize that they had made a mistake and they were gonna shake it off, like that's gone now.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's a blood feud involved, right?
SPEAKER_01: Now Joab, David's general, he's out for blood against Abner, who just killed his brother.
SPEAKER_01: And that day the fighting ends, and they go home, and you know, again, like just put yourself in David's shoes here.
SPEAKER_01: It feels like he's on the cusp of getting everything God promised him, of becoming the king over all of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And now, like the civil war has ignited, and there's all this, you know, this lust for revenge and blood, and and there's just no easy path forward.
SPEAKER_01: And again, like if you're David, what are you praying that night?
SPEAKER_01: Like, God, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you letting this happen?
SPEAKER_01: Like, we're we have enough on our hands fighting the Philistines, now we're fighting each other.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's 11 tribes who won't submit to my rule.
SPEAKER_01: Like, why is that happening?
SPEAKER_01: Like, why, God, won't you just let this work out how it's supposed to?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever prayed that prayer along with David?
SPEAKER_01: David's words in Psalm 13.
SPEAKER_01: How long, Lord, will you forget me forever?
SPEAKER_01: How long will you hide your face from me?
SPEAKER_01: God, why do you keep letting this happen?
SPEAKER_01: Especially when you're trying to do things the right way.
SPEAKER_01: That's where David is right now.
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to stay faithful.
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to lean on God's strength, he's trying to do things right, and things are still just getting harder and harder and harder.
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's often when it actually can be the most difficult to make sense of the difficulties that we find ourselves in, is when we're doing it right and it's still hard.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've been there at some point in your life as a parent raising kids, and things are just not going well with one of your kids, or you're you're there's fighting going on, there's disobedience, there's just you're missing each other, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: There's a diagnosis involved, there's it just like it's just not working.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not a mystery what God wants from you, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like if you're raising kids, it's not like you're asking God, like, God, what do you want from my life?
SPEAKER_01: Like, should I be a parent or should I, you know, like no, like it's clear, you're supposed to be a wise and loving parent to your kids, and you're trying to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: It's just hard.
SPEAKER_01: And it just keeps on getting harder.
SPEAKER_01: God, why are you letting it be this way?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's in your marriage, you know, like again, like not a mystery what God wants from you.
SPEAKER_01: If you're married, you're called to self-sacrificially love your spouse.
SPEAKER_01: And you're trying, and you're trying to be faithful where God has you, but it's just it's not working.
SPEAKER_01: It's not hard.
SPEAKER_01: You're in the same cycle, the same problems over and over.
SPEAKER_01: They keep on getting more intense and worse and not better, and despite your best efforts, you just find yourself in this position of like, this is getting just harder and harder.
SPEAKER_01: God, why are you letting it be this way?
SPEAKER_01: When you're trying to be faithful, I think often the question it ends up kind of this way.
SPEAKER_01: God, okay, if you're in this, why is it so hard?
SPEAKER_01: Like, I would get it if I was just obeying.
SPEAKER_01: I would get it if I was off of my own, but like, God, I'm trying to do what you've called me to do.
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to do what where where you've put me, I'm trying to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you've called me to this, why aren't you taking me out of it?
SPEAKER_01: Why aren't you making this easier?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever wondered that?
SPEAKER_01: I was asking that question myself in a season not too long ago.
SPEAKER_01: Um some of you know my story.
SPEAKER_01: I became the lead pastor here at Alderwood uh about five years ago in 2021.
SPEAKER_01: And that transition was a moment when God just like took all the ideas I had for what my life was supposed to be and just shook it up.
SPEAKER_01: And and it didn't go anywhere like the plan that I thought that I had.
SPEAKER_01: I uh before the opportunity to become the lead pastor here uh arose, my wife and I had already been praying about what my future at Alderwood might be.
SPEAKER_01: Um and we really had a sense that God was calling us to stay, that that uh that there was the possibility that he was gonna uh open up the door for me to be the lead pastor here.
SPEAKER_01: But we thought it was many years in the future.
SPEAKER_01: Um we thought it might happen about now.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and and I had just gotten this promotion to an executive pastor role here at the church.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and we had this beautiful kind of path laid out in front of us and this great idea of what God was supposed to do, which was that this uh this season of being an executive pastor was gonna be about five years.
SPEAKER_01: It was gonna be a season of preparation for me, of getting poured into and mentored, of learning how to manage people and lead at a higher level, and getting prepared to one day become a lead pastor.
SPEAKER_01: And four months into getting that job as an executive pastor, um, our former lead pastor walked into an elder meeting one day and out of the blue said that he was done in six months.
SPEAKER_01: And no one was prepared for that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the elders weren't prepared for that, the staff wasn't prepared, I wasn't prepared, the church wasn't prepared, and no one really knew what to do.
SPEAKER_01: And it threw us into this season of turmoil and uncertainty about just okay, what do we do now?
SPEAKER_01: And there were people who knew that this idea existed out there that maybe I would be the next lead pastor of the church, but not on this timeline at all.
SPEAKER_01: I was 29 years old, I had four months of experience as an executive pastor.
SPEAKER_01: And so there's a real question being asked: like, I mean, do we need to just completely change plans?
SPEAKER_01: Like, do we need to go do a national search?
SPEAKER_01: And um, and you know, the elders and the search committee and wherever were thrown together to try to figure out this question.
SPEAKER_01: And again, like no one had this plan.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's just trying to do the best they can.
SPEAKER_01: And in our family, it became this moment of just deep uncertainty where I my job had always felt really secure.
SPEAKER_01: But now my future at Alderwood was very much up in the air.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, not only just whether I was gonna be the lead pastor or not, but quite honestly, I was asking the question like, okay, if I'm not the lead pastor, do I have a future at Alderwood?
SPEAKER_01: Is the next person who comes in gonna wanna work with me, who many people thought should be the next lead pastor?
SPEAKER_01: Like, it seemed very possible that my my time at Alderwood just in general was coming to an end.
SPEAKER_01: Um and I in that first moment, you know, the the leadership told me that we were gonna take two months to evaluate whether to move forward with me in a process or not.
SPEAKER_01: But like in it would be two months of uncertainty, and then we'd have an answer one way or another.
SPEAKER_01: And again, like everybody's trying to do the best they can, but no one knows what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01: And so that two months became seven months, and and it became this long, drawn out process of just uh kind of our life feeling like it was up in the air.
SPEAKER_01: And seven months go by, and I I'm voted in as a lead pastor, which is so grateful for, and just it's been a huge blessing in my life.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to complain about being here at all.
SPEAKER_01: Uh but to be honest, like we got across the finish line exhausted, and and in the things have been delayed so much that by the time it was decided, there was only two weeks between that and when I started.
SPEAKER_01: And and we were just like trying to catch our breath, trying to kind of just you know settle as a family going through what we had gone through.
SPEAKER_01: And I'd heard people talk about how there's this honeymoon period when you become the lead pastor of a new church.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is that everybody kind of gives you the benefit of the doubt in the beginning and no one wants to rock the boat, and so there's like this year or two where things are just easy.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, thank goodness, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the truth is that just didn't happen at all.
SPEAKER_01: Uh there was no honeymoon period, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm so thankful to be able to say, just completely honestly, with not holding anything back, I have a fantastic relationship with our elders today.
SPEAKER_01: It is such a partnership that just fills me with life, and I'm so grateful for them.
SPEAKER_01: And I can also tell you, that was not true in year one.
SPEAKER_01: Uh year one was hard, just to be totally honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I there were things that happened, there were misunderstandings, miscommunications, disagreements, and I think you know, I felt like I was being disrespected, and I felt like they were being condescending, and they probably felt like I was arrogant and ungrateful, and I think we were all right.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, like it just wasn't easy.
SPEAKER_01: And so you're like jump thrown to that, and then also like six months in, we find out that Sound Transit is gonna tear this building down and put a train in it, you know, and it's like that was crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And again, that's not happening, don't worry.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but like that honeymoon period just didn't happen.
SPEAKER_01: And at a certain point, it was Like, God, why?
SPEAKER_01: Why did it have to be like this?
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm trying to do what you're calling me to do.
SPEAKER_01: That's why I'm here.
SPEAKER_01: And I still believe that, and I'm so grateful.
SPEAKER_01: But like, there was this kind of resentment of does it have to be this hard?
SPEAKER_01: Like, why couldn't God you just make the path you're calling me to a little bit smoother?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure that you felt that as well.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where David is right now.
SPEAKER_01: Like, he's staying faithful, he's where God has called him.
SPEAKER_01: God is at work, but it is just hard, and it keeps on getting harder.
SPEAKER_01: And it's about, he's about to just get this kick, just uh, I mean, this gut punch.
SPEAKER_01: Because it looks like it's all about to come together.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so here's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: The civil war is going on for years.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, you've got Ish, the puppet king in the north, and Abner the general.
SPEAKER_01: And what happens is that this kind of blow-up happens between Ish and Abner.
SPEAKER_01: It's this really uh controversial, dramatic thing.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Ish accuses Abner of sleeping with one of Saul's ex-wives.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason why that's a big deal is because in that day, if you took one of the former king's ex-wives as your wife, it was like a way of trying to grab power.
SPEAKER_01: So Ish accuses Abner of kind of this coup by sleeping with Saul's ex-wife.
SPEAKER_01: It's like this whole Jerry Springer thing.
SPEAKER_01: And Abner, uh, he's just done.
SPEAKER_01: He's done with Ish.
SPEAKER_01: He's done with the Civil War.
SPEAKER_01: And what he does is he says, uh, here's what I'm gonna do, like, I'm ending this thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go to David and I'm gonna submit to David.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give him the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna end the civil war, and we're just all gonna follow David.
SPEAKER_01: I'm done with you, Ish.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what he does.
SPEAKER_01: He goes to the south, and it's all about to work out.
SPEAKER_01: David hosts Abner for a banquet.
SPEAKER_01: They they gather together and they make this plan and they become friends.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is crazy.
SPEAKER_01: This is like the general of the opposing army and the and the king, and Abner's submitting to David.
SPEAKER_01: So Abner said to David, Let me go, and I will gather all Israel to my Lord the King.
SPEAKER_01: They will make a covenant with you, and you will reign over all you desire.
SPEAKER_01: So David dismissed Abner and he went in peace.
SPEAKER_01: Everything David wants is about to be handed to him.
SPEAKER_01: God's about to fulfill the promise.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what happens: Abner leaves, and he goes to make this thing work.
SPEAKER_01: And just then Joab comes back into town.
SPEAKER_01: And Joab hears what David just did with Abner.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, Abner killed Joab's younger brother.
SPEAKER_01: And so Joab is furious.
SPEAKER_01: And he storms into David and he says, You can't make an alliance with Abner, you can't trust him.
SPEAKER_01: What on earth are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: David doesn't listen to Joab.
SPEAKER_01: And so Joab takes things into his own hands.
SPEAKER_01: He sends messengers after Abner's party.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Hey, we forgot one thing.
SPEAKER_01: Come back real quick, and we gotta sort some things out.
SPEAKER_01: And when Abner returns, Joab meets him at the city gate and kills him.
SPEAKER_01: And man, I mean, think about what position that puts David in.
SPEAKER_01: Because, like, David did not want to kill Abner at all.
SPEAKER_01: The opposite.
SPEAKER_01: Abner was about to give David everything he wanted.
SPEAKER_01: But are the people in the north ever gonna believe that David didn't have a hand in this?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, to them, it's gonna look exactly like a trap.
SPEAKER_01: Like David invited the general down, and when he was there, he had him killed, and it was his general who did it.
SPEAKER_01: Like, no one's gonna believe that David's hands are innocent in this.
SPEAKER_01: And so now when it seems like everything is about to get resolved, it just gets even worse than it ever was.
SPEAKER_01: And this seven years of mess, I mean it ends, I'll put our uh collection of players here back up on the board.
SPEAKER_01: So just to get us caught up, if you remember.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Abner killed Asahel, who's Joab's younger brother.
SPEAKER_01: So now Joab has killed Abner.
SPEAKER_01: And just what happens at the end here to kind of cap us off is that now with Abner dead, uh, Israel in the north is just in chaos because Abner was the real leader and no one really trusts Ish.
SPEAKER_01: And so they lose confidence in him, and uh one day Ish is taking his noon nap, and his two bodyguards come in and kill him, and they cut off his head, and they bring it to David, because they're also gonna join David's team now, and they're like, hey, here's the head of your enemy.
SPEAKER_01: They haven't heard, though, what David does to people who kills his enemies.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and David says, Look, this is not who I am.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to be known as the king who grabbed power by assassinating the other king, and so David kills those people, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So, like, the whole thing is just an absolute disaster, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Like, nothing is going well, everything is hard.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where I'm gonna leave you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Uh those are these three chapters.
SPEAKER_01: And and so let's just ask the question: what are we supposed to learn from a season like this?
SPEAKER_01: From seven and a half years of civil war, of David actually trying pretty hard to do the right thing, and it just not working out.
SPEAKER_01: When you find yourself in a season like that, what are you what are you supposed to take away from it?
SPEAKER_01: And one of the answers that we started with in the beginning was this reality that when you find yourself in those hard seasons, recognize that God is trying to do something in you.
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to grow your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: He's inviting you to a deeper trust, he's inviting you to lean on him, he's inviting you to grow and mature.
SPEAKER_01: Like that's one answer.
SPEAKER_01: But one of the things we also learn from this season of David's life is this reality.
SPEAKER_01: That your life will be far more impacted by your faithfulness than by your hardships.
SPEAKER_01: See, I think a lot of times we feel like our life and what happens to us and and and how we end up doing, it's kind of out of our control.
SPEAKER_01: It's dependent on other people's decisions and what happens to us and the hardships we find ourselves in, our difficulties, and whether our life is going well or not.
SPEAKER_01: We think kind of it's based on things that happened to us.
SPEAKER_01: And certainly you could feel that way if you're David in this story, right?
SPEAKER_01: Of all these things that are happening that are not his doing at all and just keeps on getting worse and worse.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is that those things, as hard as they might be and as painful as they might be, will not have nearly the effect on your life as what you do in those situations, as your faithfulness.
SPEAKER_01: And how you see that in this story is this really weird piece that's very easy to skip over.
SPEAKER_01: You have these three chapters of just chaos, of just horrible things.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, murder and betrayal and civil war and just all this stuff, and it's just raging around David.
SPEAKER_01: And in the middle of that, you have these six verses that are honestly just like super easy to skip over because they're a genealogy.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever been reading the Bible and hit a genealogy and you just like turn the page, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's tempting to do that in this story too.
SPEAKER_01: Really short, it's a genealogy, it's actually, it's not technically a genealogy, it's a record of David's marriages in this time.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the one area of David's life where even at his best, he really never stays faithful to God.
SPEAKER_01: He never figures this part of life out.
SPEAKER_01: And what it is is it tells you that during this season of his life, when he's at Hebron, he marries six women.
SPEAKER_01: And all six of these women, they all have a son, and so he has six sons now from six different women.
SPEAKER_01: And in this time, in this place, when you're reading that, like, it doesn't catch you as weird.
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's what kings did.
SPEAKER_01: Kings collected wives and they had a bunch of sons.
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, like most people look at that and see it as a sign of God's blessing.
SPEAKER_01: Like, good for David, he's got all these kids now.
SPEAKER_01: But if you've been reading the Bible up to this point, you know what God has said about how his kings are supposed to behave.
SPEAKER_01: And he gives all kinds of instructions for the kings of Israel, and one of them, just clear as day, is that the king is not supposed to collect many wives so that his heart won't go astray.
SPEAKER_01: And David knows that, and he just doesn't stay faithful to what God has called him to.
SPEAKER_01: And you could read right past that, but the thing that jumps off the page, if you know the end of David's story, is that of all the stuff that happens in this chapter, it is his unfaithfulness with his wives that will have the biggest impact on him and his story.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason is because of the three names of three of his sons that show up.
SPEAKER_01: One of his sons, born to him when he's at Hebron, is a guy named Amnon.
SPEAKER_01: And at a future point in David's life, when Amnon's all grown up, he's gonna end up raping his sister Tamar.
SPEAKER_01: And David's not gonna step in and he's not gonna deal with the injustice.
SPEAKER_01: And so one of the other sons who's born to David at Hebron, a guy named Absalom, is gonna murder Amnon to get revenge for his sister Tamar.
SPEAKER_01: And that thing's gonna blow up because Absalom's gonna lead a coup against David and drive him out of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be one of the lowest moments of his entire life.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's a third son that's born to him in Hebron named Adonijah.
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of David's life, when he's too old to really exert his authority, Adonijah is gonna lead another coup against David and try to keep the kingdom from getting past to Solomon like it's supposed to.
SPEAKER_01: Like, there is a huge, huge impact that's about to happen on David's trajectory here.
SPEAKER_01: But it isn't because of the hard stuff that he's in.
SPEAKER_01: It's because he wasn't faithful to what God called him to as the king.
SPEAKER_01: And so your faithfulness is gonna have a far greater impact on your life and on your trajectory, and what ends up happening to you than the hardships that you find yourself in today.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not to belittle the hardships.
SPEAKER_01: I know they're real.
SPEAKER_01: I know that you have gone through things that I will never understand.
SPEAKER_01: I I know that at times it feels like if I knew what your story was, I wouldn't be saying that it's not gonna have the biggest impact on your life.
SPEAKER_01: But I really think that is the promise of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It is that we serve a God who doesn't leave us in hardship, who doesn't stand back uncaring, but we serve a God who entered into our hardship.
SPEAKER_01: That is who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: God in human flesh came to suffer with us, to endure hardship with us, and he's with us today, if you know him, and if you're a follower of Jesus, wherever you find yourself, he's there by his spirit, and he knows what you're going through.
SPEAKER_01: He's experienced it himself, and if he's letting you be there, you can be sure that he has a purpose in it, that he's not gonna leave anything wasted, that he's not gonna leave anything happening to you, that he doesn't turn for good in some way.
SPEAKER_01: So my invitation to you this morning is will you believe that?
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray and let's ask God to give us that faith.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, we turn to you this morning, and we bring you every difficulty and every hardship that we face right now.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we we ask that you would remind us of this truth.
SPEAKER_01: That you see us, that you know it, that you care.
SPEAKER_01: That you aren't turning your back, that you aren't turning your face, that you're with us in the midst, and that you have us in your hand, that you have a purpose, that you have a future for us, that you promise that one day you will make everything new.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, help us to believe that.
SPEAKER_01: We do believe that, Lord, but help us with our unbelief.
SPEAKER_01: And would you do that work of growing our faithfulness in the middle of whatever place we find ourselves today?
SPEAKER_01: We want more of you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And we ask that in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to the Alderwood Community Church Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: As we witness David, we're reminded that God uses both triumphs and trials to shape us into people who trust him fully.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Alderwood or catch past sermons, visit alderwood.cc