Give It To God
gtcotr/ss102206
Life may not always seem fair but God is always good. And God cares about you.
When we don’t know what to do, where to turn or how to pray, we can always give it to God and trust Him to take care of it.
Our God is an ever present help in the time of trouble. Psalms 46:1
Our story this morning will come from the book of 2 Samuel, beginning in chapter 13 and following for a few chapters. Before we conclude we will be reading a few verses from 2 Samuel 16 to see how David, late in life, in trouble once again, didn’t know what to else to do so he just did once again what he had always done before and gave it to God and trusted Him to take care of it.
King David was a great man, warrior and king, however, at the same time David was a fairly dysfunctional father. Although he could slay the bear, the lion and Goliath, woo Michael, win Abigail and steal the heart of Bathsheba, nonetheless, David never quite captured the hearts or earned the loyalties of his children.
One of David’s sons, Amnon, fell into incestuous love with his sister, Tamar. After conspiring with another brother, Amnon raped Tamar and then, as it is written: “The hate wherewith he hated her was more now that the love wherewith he had loved her.”
2 Samuel 13:15 Then Amnon hated her exceedingly, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, "Arise, be gone!" (NKJV)
David cared to know nothing about these family matters allowing them to fester and ultimately, after two years, a third brother, Absalom, took matters into his own hand and murdered Amnon for raping and abandoning his sister.
For this murder Absalom was banished from David’s kingdom. After three years David allowed Absalom to return to his kingdom however their relationship was never fully restored.
Absalom began to conspire against his father, stealing the hearts of the people and enticing David’s leaders to change their loyalties.
2 Samuel 15:6 In this manner Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. (NLKV)
One day Absalom made his move … he rose up against his father’s reign to take the kingdom for himself. In the face of certain overthrow, David fled Jerusalem and escaped into the wilderness of Judea.
With several friends, family members and close companions, David crossed the valley and started up the Mount of Olives bare footed, and Absalom came into the city of Jerusalem.
I have brought us to the point of the story now which I want to explore this morning. This is a difficult moment in the life of David. After all David has been through, now, chased out of his kingdom by the son of his love, David meets another man in the hills who comes out to add insult to injury.
Lets look at what this man, Shimei, says, and specifically how David handles this added injustice.
2 Samuel 16 NLT
5 ¶ As David and his party passed Bahurim, a man came out of the village cursing them. It was Shimei son of Gera, a member of Saul’s family.
6 He threw stones at the king and the king’s officers and all the mighty warriors who surrounded them.
7 "Get out of here, you murderer, you scoundrel!" he shouted at David.
8 "The LORD is paying you back for murdering Saul and his family. You stole his throne, and now the LORD has given it to your son Absalom. At last you will taste some of your own medicine, you murderer!"
9 "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?" Abishai son of Zeruiah demanded. "Let me go over and cut off his head!"
10 "No!" the king said. "What am I going to do with you sons of Zeruiah! If the LORD has told him to curse me, who am I to stop him?"
11 Then David said to Abishai and the other officers, "My own son is trying to kill me. Shouldn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to do it.
12 And perhaps the LORD will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses."
13 So David and his men continued on, and Shimei kept pace with them on a nearby hillside, cursing as he went and throwing stones at David and tossing dust into the air.
David could have taken matters into his own hands but that would not have changed anything. What David needed only God could do.
So, David decided to give it to God and trust Him one more time to take care of it. It was the same pattern we see in David’s life when he was wrongfully accused and chased for years by King Saul.
What can we learn from David’s example?
When we are evidently being done wrong and when there seems nothing we can do about the real problem or the problem makers … take David’s example and:
Give It To God!
How does one do that? Glad you asked!
1. Don’t curse it. (the problem or the people you see as the problem)
2. Don’t nurse it. (this will only serve the enemies goals in your mental, emotional and physical well being)
3. Don’t rehearse it. (telling others and infecting them with the same poison and pain you have will do nothing but prolong the process)
4. Trust God to reverse it.
Give it to God and trust Him to take care of it.
Just as with David who was restored back to his throne with all of his enemies defeated, God will also take care of your problems and vindicate you, deliver you, restore you or whatever you deserve in His eyes.
So when someone does you dirty or life cheats you out of some blessing:
Don’t curse it; Don’t nurse it; Don’t rehearse it & God will reverse it!
When all else will fail!
Give it to God!
no really!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Give it to God!
