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Text: 2 Samuel 21
David is in his sixties now. The land is under famine. David’s first thought is what have we done to cause God to deal with us this way? We are materialistic. We don’t think in terms of God. We think in terms of germs and viruses and politicians, but we don’t consider what are God’s thoughts when a COVID virus is passing through the population.
When you get to a place in life where you feel stuck, you can’t move on. I can’t progress forward. There is something that needs to be taken care of.
This famine has been going on for three years. And the famine is brought by God because of what Saul did. So the blood that was spilled by Saul is at least thirty years old. Time hasn’t dulled God’s memory. We seem to think that. We think time relieves guilt, or time justifies sin. But God hasn’t forgotten about it.
Some debts need to be paid (vss 1-9)
- Sometimes you can’t move on because you haven’t taken care of things in the past. David has to take care of someone else’s mess here. This isn’t even a problem he created. David is not at fault, but David is dealing with the aftermath of Saul’s guilt.
- Saul refused to fight the battles the LORD told him to fight, but did slaughter a group of people to appease the crowd in Israel.
- I can’t move on until this debt is paid.
- David doesn’t complain that he was handed a mess of a kingdom. He just handles what needs to be handled.
- Yea, but eternal security. I don’t have to confess my sins. Really? Is that how you handle the debts you owe to the bank? Is that how you treat people you’ve wronged?
- Zacheus repaid the people he stole from. Do you know what that says? That says this salvation in Jesus Christ is real. It’s REAL righteousness, not made-up righteousness.
- If you come to the altar and have something against your brother, take care of that first.
- If you’re a husband who doesn’t know how to treat his wife, treat her right, and then God will care about your prayers.
Some bones need to be buried (vss 10-14)
- Some things need to be buried.
- They need to be buried in their place.
- Listen, you can’t change dead bones! Bury the things you can’t change.
- Maybe you can’t move on because you won’t bury the dead bones that you can’t change. Bury them!
Some younger people need to take the mantle (vss 15-21)
- David feels like he’s taken care of what needs to be taken care of with the famine and now it’s time to get back to work. But wait a minute. Time has taken its toll on David …and David waxed faint… David goes to war and begins to feel the effects of his age and time. He’s not what he used to be. The same man who fought the giant at 17 could not defeat the next generation of giants.
- Someone says, Oh David, doesn’t have enough faith. David just needs to pray more. David needs to read more Bible. NONSENSE! No amount of faith is going to counteract the curse these vile bodies are under. Faith won’t beat the effects of age. And your ignorant answers that sound spiritual aren’t worth the air they’re taking up.
- David waxed faint. David could slay giants, but now David faces an enemy he can’t beat. Death.
- The next generation understands a higher calling (vs 17). These younger men learned how to fight for the higher calling. Quench not the light of Israel…
- The best thing you can do at this time in life is to pass the torch.
- Titus 2:1-5
