The Driven Church

Strengthen my grip.        

When it rains, it pours.              

Are you like Ittai?        

What kind of servant are you?          

Where is your affection?          

Real forgiveness?

Absalom returns to Jerusalem

Recovering       

Two years have passed since Tamar was violated by Amnon, and David has done nothing. During those years, Tamar lives with the consequences, Amnon continues without accountability, and Absalom’s anger hardens into hatred. When an opportunity finally presents itself, Absalom takes justice into his own hands and murders his brother. The tragedy unfolding in David’s family reveals a sobering truth: what we refuse to confront does not necessarily disappear. Unaddressed wounds, sin, anger, and destructive patterns can grow beneath the surface until they affect others.   

But the sermon does not leave David—or us—in failure. David appears increasingly paralyzed by his own past, unable to confront his children because his own moral failures have left him defeated. The answer is not pretending the past never happened. It is receiving the abundant grace of God, refusing to continually rehearse forgiven failure, and moving forward in faithful obedience. Through Christ, yesterday’s failure does not have to determine tomorrow’s faithfulness. God can redeem even the broken parts of our stories and use what once brought shame as a testimony of His grace.    

Failure to act