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“May any advice you receive or give be godly.” <>< Dona (05/04/20)
Please read II Samuel 10 through 12. If you don’t have a Bible handy just click here -> Biblegateway.com. The Biblegateway website should open for you to use. Type in the chapters you want to read and select the translation you want to read them from. Click search and the chapters should appear. Once you read the suggested chapters close the screen and you should return here.
In II Samuel 10 After Nahash king of Ammorites died, King David wanted to show kindness to Hanun, his son. Because Nahash had shown kindness to him (King David).
Response
Oh! Wow! Lord Hanun listen to and acted on some bad advice from the Ammorite nobles.
Something to think about
It was suggested by the nobles that King David’s men were sent to spy out their city. Because of this advice Hanun didn’t trust David’s men. And Hanun chose to humiliate them instead.
Something to experience
Not all advice is good. Seek godly counsel when you need help in discovering what actions you should take. Then consider the advice carefully. Perhaps you might choose to negotiate with the person or people involved. Instead of confrontation seek peace first.
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In II Samuel 11 David from the roof of his palace saw Bathsheba bathing. He had her brought to his palace.
Response
Oh! Wow! Lord, David could have just left the roof and fled temptation.
Something to think about
David could have chosen to stop and turn from evil at any stage in this story. Instead he fell deeper and deeper into sin.
Something to experience
When we find ourselves tempted we need to flee the temptation. We should begin right now to ask God to help us stay away from people, places and situations that may tempt us. We need to memorize and meditate on scripture that focus on specific temptations that are in our life. And we need to find a prayer partner we can trust so we can pray for each other.
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In II Samuel 12 The Lord sent Nathan to confront David about his sins. Nathan told David a story about two men. One was rich, the other poor. The rich man took the poor man’s lamb.
Response
Oh! Wow! Lord, David didn’t even realize the rich man in Nathan’s story was him (David).
Something to think about
After hearing Nathan, David burned with anger against the man in Nathan’s story. David had become so insensitive to his own sins that he didn’t realize he was the villain in the story.
Something to experience
We too can condemn the behavior of others and not even realize we are behaving the same way. Are there friends, associates, or family members we criticize or find hard to accept?
Perhaps we could stop trying to change them and ask God to help us understand their feelings and see our own flaws more clearly. We may discover we have some of the same flaws our friends, associates and family members have.
Prayer