Love is NOT always love.

Some counsel around us will simply validate our dark desires. And the only person wondering how to deal with their shame in this passage is the poor girl who was wronged. MUCH to be learned from 2 Samuel 13-14 (and Ben Keller).

Depending on your interpretation of 2 Samuel 12:26-31 we have to wrestle with - alternately - an act of torturous killing or enslavement. Either way we interpret it, what does it tell us about the message God is painting on the canvas of history? Surprisingly, it connects to Christ, both past and future, and our relationship to Him.

The man after God's own heart breaks that heart in one of the most grievous and offensive ways: in this we find hope? Yes we can.. because we are equally susceptible to that descent into sin, yet equally comforted by a God who brings us to repentance and worship.

When we make gross assumptions and listen to toxic counsel, we multiply our chaos - and hurt others. 2 Samuel 10 shows us just how bad this can get... but conversely how to face the world and even "impossible" odds. Lord knows we need to know this!

King David and even Mr. Rogers show only a glimmer of the way God demonstrates his love for us. 2 Samuel 9 gives us a glimpse of the glorious table we are invited to by the one who loved first, loves best, and loves eternally.

Hamstrung horses, executions, and how David's wars become metaphor for God's perfect mercy AND perfect justice... the latter of which we have a pretty dichotomous relationship with. We love justice and want it... except, you know, when we don't. This Sunday's sermon isn't light fare... but it DOES contain true hope.

David thinks he knows what God wants... or needs. God pushes back on his plan, and motivation, and flips the script on David... and us. His promises should give us a bold posture of confidence. Are we listening?

How do we approach God? With an overly familiar attitude that breeds irreverence, or with the notion that I can "help" God and know better than His commands? We face a hard lesson on respect in this chapter, for God as well as for those judging others for their pleasure in the freedom He brings.

A joyous moment of God's will taking shape - David's kingship - is tainted by the new monarch's cultural compromise. Yet God gets the glory, accomplishes his will despite our missteps, and always goes before us setting his path. Will we walk it?

2 Samuel 4 sobers us with the reality that sometimes we do sinful, shameful things to impress, advance, or ingratiate ourselves to others, and in some cases this can have (literally) grave consequences, temporal AND eternal.