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Welcome to the Cross References podcast on the Book of Ezekiel. In this study, you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a newbie Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
Host: Luke Taylor
How to Be Thankful even when You Don’t Feel Like It
II Samuel 11-12
30-Minute Theology
Introduction
Guy who robbed gas station in 2000 (in Augusto, Maine) with an old family firearm he picked up at home, and he stole $120. As he was walking out an off-duty cop was walking in and immediately caught and arrested him. Upon confiscation the police figured out it was a Civil War pistol worth $23,000. Didn’t know what he already had.
We’re going to take a look at what we already have today. I don’t know when you’re listening to this. Right now, it’s Thanksgiving. Or actually, Thanksgiving was a few days ago; it just passed. It was supposed to be a time to be Thankful.
But life is hard right now. Prices are going up at the store, bills are going up, we’re living paycheck to paycheck and by God’s grace, and it never feels like we have enough.
But do we have enough? Maybe we need to do what that guy in Augusto should have done before he stole $120. Stop and take an inventory.
And you’ll find out how to do that today on the Cross References podcast.
[theme music]
II Samuel 11-12
Welcome to the Cross References podcast, where you learn how every small piece of the Bible tells one big story- and most importantly, how they all connect to the cross and Christ.
Whether you’re a new Christian or a veteran Bible reader, my goal is that God’s Word will make more sense to you after every episode.
My name is Luke Taylor, and my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. And when I served at a church as a pastor on staff, I preached just about every Thanksgiving service for the church. And it was my favorite sermon to preach all year. Because gratitude is one of my favorite virtues or values. And I’m a little sad because I’m not serving anywhere as a pastor at the moment. I don’t know if I will ever get to again. And if it’s not God’s will, then that’s OK. But I hate to let Thanksgiving go by without sharing a Thanksgiving message with someone. And if you tuned in, then that’s you today. Our text for today’s Bible study is II Samuel 11 and 12. I won’t read it all.
In fact, it’s a very familiar story so I’m going to try to recap it quickly…
(read v1) It all begins when David did not go off to war with the men
David is strolling around on the roof and he sees a woman bathing
(v3) “The woman was very beautiful” implying he gawked at her, he didn’t just look away immediately
He had a servant get her and bring her to his room
I want to make a comment here about David just to put the full context on his actions. He already had multiple wives to keep track of (sinful; against Genesis 1-2 and Deuteronomy 17). It’s safe to say that David was not hurting for female companionship.
I don’t even understand the multiple wives thing. I love my wife but one is enough!
(And can you imagine the catfights those women must have got into)
Emily often gets jealous of Siri (tell “turnin’ up the heat” story)
So I want to recap who has done wrong in this story:
David has done wrong because he had multiple wives.
David did wrong by lusting after another man’s wife
David did wrong by having her brought to him to sleep with him
Bathsheba did wrong by going. (She could have said no; she was complicit)
Then Bathsheba turns up pregnant, and David is shocked, like he forgot where babies come from. We all saw this coming because we’ve seen soap operas before- but David is shocked. He needs to come up with a plan to make Uriah think he’s the father of this child.
David has Uriah brought home from the battlefront to David’s palace and says, “You’ve been doing such a great job, take a night off.” Uriah is probably thinking, “The King made me travel all the way home to take a night off.” So he sleeps on the ground floor of the palace and then goes back to battle.
David says, “Why didn’t you visit your wife?” Uriah says, “None of the other guys get to visit their wives; why should I visit mine?”
See, while everyone else is doing the wrong thing, Uriah is doing the right thing.
David tries it again, has Uriah remain in Jerusalem another night. Says to sleep at his home. Uriah goes home and sleeps the front porch; won’t go inside and see his wife.
David is frustrated. He tried doing things the easy way but Uriah is not cooperating.
Unlike David, who had everything and still wasn’t satisfied with what he had, and decided he deserved to take another man’s wife, Uriah was not greedy and not taking opportunities that he didn’t feel that he deserved.
David sends Joab- the commander of his army- a letter, and tells him, “Somebody has to be on the front line of the battle and be the first one killed when you send your men to battle. It has to be someone. Let’s make it Uriah.”
In the next battle, Uriah is killed.
Bathsheba mourns. David has her brought to the palace. He marries her.
David has done wrong. Bathsheba has done wrong. Joab has done wrong. Uriah was the only person doing the right thing, and he’s dead.
David is waiting for the baby to be born. A prophet named Nathan- someone who speaks for God- arrives and tells David about a recent even that happened in the town.
II Samuel 12:1-4
Does this make you angry? This is just about sheep and I’m mad hearing that story. One guy has a bunch of sheep and the poor guy only has one, but when it comes time to prepare a meal, the rich guy takes the poor guy’s only sheep and makes lamb chops out of it.
I’m kind off ticked off at the rich man just reading this!
II Samuel 12:5-7a
David, that’s exactly what you did with another man’s wife. You had all these wives and they weren’t enough for you. You couldn’t be satisfied with what you had. You weren’t thankful. You weren’t grateful. You didn’t appreciate them.
You. Are. The. Man.
II Samuel 12:7b-10
Wow. He says that David despised God because he didn’t appreciate all the good things God had given him- that David still wanted more.
And God’s perspective is: David: What You Have is Enough
GOD’S MESSAGE TO US
God’s message to David is the same message to you and I today:
What You Have is Enough.
We are geared- especially as 2017 Americans- to always want more, to always have our desires satisfied ASAP, to always be striving to have something better.
We are always interested in what we can get our hands on next.
But that is not a Biblical mindset. God is in control of what blessings he sends our way. He hasn’t forgotten to send us a blessing we need.
So we need to be satisfied about two things:
We need to be satisfied with what we have.
We need to be satisfied with what we don’t.
[Marty pic]
Let me ask you a question: how long does Marty think his leash is?
Answer: One inch too short.
Because whenever we go for a walk, he is at the extent of his leash, always wanting to go just a little bit further than I’m taking him.
He desperately wants to smell that leaf that’s just an inch or two out of his reach.
We all have a tendency to want just a little more than what we have.
One of my favorite quotes from the richest man in the world 100 years ago, John D. Rockefeller. Someone asked him how much money is enough money. His answer: “Just a little bit more.”
That is human nature; but does God agree with it?
What You Have is Enough.
MATERIALISM
Imagine you went to a beautiful wedding, imagine the groom looks immaculate and the decorations are gorgeous and even the guests are dressed snazzy. Then the bride walks in, beautiful, but as she passes by you notice a big black spot on the back of her dress, like she leaned up against a greasy pole. What is everyone going to see? What is everyone going to be talking about the next day? What is everyone going to remember 10 years from now?
That’s how life is. All we ever think about is the black spots: we think about what we don’t have.
And that is materialism. And that goes against what God wants for our lives.
What You Have is Enough.
Maybe you say, “Not it’s not, I’m not some rich person!”
A Christian financial consultant named Ron Blue visited some missions projects he was funding in one of the most poverty-stricken locations in Africa.
He asked a missionary there, “What is the biggest barrier among these people that keeps you from reaching them with the gospel?” The missionary’s answer: materialism.
Ron Blue said, “How can that be?” As he looked around, all he saw was poverty. The missionary said…
“If a man has a manure hut, he wants a mud hut.”
“If a man has a mud hut, he wants a stone hut.”
“If his hut has a thatched roof, he wants a tin roof.”
“If he has one cow, he wants two cows.”
“If he has one wife, he wants two wives.”
Materialism is not about how much you have. It’s about how much you want.
And what is really deceptive is that our enemy the devil gets us thinking it’s what we need or what we deserve.
But God says What You Have is Enough.
I’ve once memorized the opening of II Peter. Not sure if I can remember it. But I always remember the third verse:
II Peter 1:3 - His divine power has given us everything we need…
Do we agree with that? Do we say, “Well God I also need XYZ…” no, his opinion is that he’s provided everything we need.
What You Have is Enough.
Someday- when we get to the other side of eternity- we’ll thank God for all the prayers- he did not answer.
I’ve heard people say this at every high school reunion!
HOW TO BE THANKFUL EVEN IF YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT
Three ways to be thankful even if you don’t feel like it. Because thankfulness is a feeling and if you don’t feel like it, you need to start feeling like it. They all start with R because I’m just adorable like that.
Remember your blessings. Like that song “count your blessings name them one by one…” It starts with a roof over your head.
That means take all your possessions- every good thing you own- out into a field and draw a circle around them, and God says, “Be happy with everything inside that circle. Because if you can’t, it despises God.”
Repent of ingratitude. We’ve all despised God by wanting or taking or coveting something He didn’t give us.
II Samuel 12:13 – Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin.”
WWWWHHHHAAAATTTT??? It’s as simple as that??? It’s as simple as that.
But God, what about all the things that David did? I was thinking last week that I probably would have given up on David. Written him off. Told him he went too far, crossed the line, that I was washing my hands of him. If I were God, I don’t see giving David another chance after this. I had been too good to him and he already had a chance to own up to it and then he got Uriah killed. I would have given up on David. I would have given up on Peter. I would have given up on Elijah when he crawled in that cave. I would have given up on Gideon. I would have given up on Doubting Thomas. And I probably would have given up on Luke. Not Luke in the Bible. Luke me. If I were God, I would have given up on me a long time ago.
Thankfully, I am not God. And you should be very glad about that because God is so much more loving and patient than me. God doesn’t give up when I would.
God’s grace is great enough that He doesn’t just look at what you’ve done, He’ll look at what you can do if you’ll turn your future over to Him. And He won’t give up on you if He still has a potential and a purpose for your life. And Jesus steps into your mess and says to give Him the wheel and let Him turn the car around.
I would have given up on Lazarus. Not that Lazarus did anything wrong, but he was dead. I probably would have given up on God doing anything with Lazarus at that point. But Jesus stepped into the situation and took a dead man and gave Him life. Our God brings the dead to life and makes all things new. And if you’re not thankful for that today, you need to repent of ingratitude.
Quit judging David. God did. Why am I? Why are you? Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin.” God forgave David. And through this experience, David has learned a very powerful lesson that you need to remember today.
Recognize God’s grace.
Later on one of David’s children- the child born to Bathsheba- get’s sick.
And David is really distraught about it at first. He’s fasting and praying and he lays around on the floor crying out to God.
But then the child dies.
But when the child finally dies, something so strange happens. David snaps out of that state really quick. He goes back to eating and sleeping and worships God.
His servants asked him “Why,” and he said, “Because I know I will see my child again in heaven. But I have learned to be content with what God has given me BY HIS GRACE and to be content with what God has not given me BY HIS GRACE.”
He finally learned to be satisfied with what he had- and didn’t have.
What we have is by God’s grace.
What we don’t have is by God’s grace.
And what we have is enough.
Thanks for listening to the Cross References Podcast. This has been Luke Taylor, and I hope the Bible makes more sense to you after this episode. I hope you had a great thanksgiving. And I hope that you have found a reason to be thankful today even if you didn’t feel like it before.