Recognize

Solomon did a some things right and a some things wrong. The things he did wrong, would cost Israelites a lot. His heart turned away from God, because of his wives from foreign nations. Also he treated the Israelites very harshly. Here's what the Israelites had to say to Solomon's son Rehoboam. " So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4 "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." Well needless to say Rehoboam turned out more worse than his father Solomon. Also in his time the Israelites split up. 16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:"What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!" So the Israelites went home. 17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them." So now Israel has 2 kings Rehoboam (Solomon's son) and Jeroboam (another guy who was good at his work but had rebelled against Solomon). I read from Rehoboam's life, of an account which really upset me, but taught me a big lesson. Under Rehoboam (David's grandson) the people did evil in God's eyes and started following other gods in the high places. More than that, "25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. " and you know what Rehoboam did??? "27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. " Can you imagine that, replacing the gold items from the temple with bronze and guarding it with your life??? I can't. I was immediately reminded of the time when the Amalekites had attacked David's camp in Ziklag in 1 Samuel 30 and how David asked God and chased them down and the Bible records "18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back."(1 Samuel 30:18-19)

Here's what I learnt

1. A lesson of stewardship -David knew what it meant to be a good steward, he had been a shepherd after all. With the sheep his father had given him he knew he had to take care of them and protect them. With God, he knew that which God had given to him belonged to God(Psalm 24:1). Above all he learnt obedience by prayer, every step of his way, to check whether God had intended that to happen in his life. He had this wonderful "habit" of verifying from God all the situations of his life and every action he needed to take at those times. The moment he knew what he had to do, he acted on it and recovered all. I wonder if Rehoboam ever paid attention when his granfather would have told him stories of the exploits he went on. Rehoboam was quick to replace everything with a cheaper substitute rather than checking and finding out what God would have him do. When pressures from the world try to overwhelm us or our family members, instead of running to take strength from God like David did, we are quick to replace that with other distractions and pay close attention to the distractions. There is a constant attack on the people of God, the evil one tries to steal our wives, our husbands, our children away from us, from our God, hence the Word of God says "Matthew 11:12 "And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize--a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion]."
2. Life of passion- Whatever David did, I could feel the passion he had in his life to live it to the best for the glory of the Living God. I sometimes think of him like a hyperactive young boy wanting to do a lot of things with his dad, trying to keep a close fellowship and following God. He wasn't trying to rule a kingdom, he was just trying to live as close to God as possible. Here on, the kings who followed Solomon were trying to maintain a kingdom. They were just there to rule, to have some group of people they wanted to boss over. With David not so. He was passionate about whatever work he did, a wonderful shepherd, even when he struck Goliath he did with the passion he had for the honour of His Living God. Now this guy Rehoboam is quite the opposite. He even goes on to replace the gold of the temple with bronze!!! God's honour and His glory should not and must not be replaced by anything or anyone. In our lives too there are situations when God's honour is at stake because of us, will we replace the glory by something cheaper or fight to get back the glory of God. Even today there are families who are praying for their loved ones to turn to Jesus, lets keep fighting for this is one place where we know we have won and it is God's glory to get back that which already belongs to God (Psalm 24:1).
3. Live like a conqueror-Rehoboam was David's grandson, he surely had the blood of a mighty warrior running through his veins. If he wanted, I am sure he could have defeated that king and taken back all the gold he had taken from the temple of God. However it didn't make much even if David's blood was flowing in his veins because it majorly depended on Rehoboam whether he wanted to use that knowledge and power or not. Even so for us, when we believed in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour the Word of God says in John 1:12-13 "12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. " Our being the children of God was of a pure conception, not becuase of a human desire, but of God, a Holy God. There is no contamination in it, no faults in that connection of blood. So if we are children of God, the blood of our God, pure and powerful flows in our veins and its up to us what we do with that kind of a legacy, sit like losers or get up and be a conqueror like our Lord Jesus. Conquering sin, conquering souls for the Kingdom of God, conquering sickness and diseases. Its in us people of God, the blood of our Lord Jesus of an Almighty God is flowing in our very spiritual body. Oh let us not be like Rehoboam and compromise the glory of God when God has already given us all the equipment we need to have "Romans 8:37 "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Conclusion: Lets not make the mistake that Rehoboam made, lets not let other things steal the glory that belongs to our Living God. More than that lets not replace God's glory with ours. Above all remember we are more than conquerors, the blood of our Living God flows through us, since we are born into the Kingdom of God and have the status of being the children of God according to John 1:12 so lets be conquerors like our Lord Jesus and take back what the devil is trying to take from us, be it our families who dont know the Lord yet, or the possessions that which God has given us to be stewards of (house, car, office work). Lets be passionate about the tasks assigned to us. Its not merely enough that we are kings and princes of our Living Lord, we've a relationship to keep with our Living Lord with passion like David did, to successfully live like kings and priests of our Living God. It wouldnt be that David came and spoke vain words about Goliath if he didn't have th passion to defend the honour of the Living God. Daily, the evil one tries to bring up problems which mock us, and if we truly know how great and mighty our God is and how dare this filthy devil tries to mock at us, we will give the Word of God right back at his face. Thats what wins, thats what makes us true heirs, we have the royal and Holy blood of our Living Father in our lives, lets quit being wimps.

Seriously Faithful

I had a wonderful time studying David's life, and the way he "clung" to God it'll be difficult to continue with the Word of God without mentioning him. More than that this man leaves lasting impressions in the lives of people who come after him. I have now moved on to the Book of 1st Kings and I am amazed at the faithfulness that God is showing, to the promises He had made to David.

David has now passed away and Solomon has taken David's place. He has a done a good job of building the temple, asking the right thing, wisdom to rule God's people. However in the long run, Solomon fails to remain faithful to God. The Bible says in 1 Kings 11 that Solomon had a weakness for women and because of this, "4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been."(1 Kings 11:4) So much so that "9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command." (1 Kings 11:9-10). Though God could have removed Solomon from the throne immediately, as he did Saul, God does not remove Solomon and you know why? The Bible says "11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." God did not remove Solomon for the sake of David’s faithfulness. Later on Ahijah the prophet met Jeroboam ( a man faithful to his duties, though he rebelled against Solomon) “and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have [d] forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.” Then Ahijah continued saying “34 " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my commands and statutes. 35 I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 37 However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 39 I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not forever.' "

God talked about David so many times, and kept reminding his descendants how faithful David was and that He would do everything for the sake of the promise God had made to David.

Lessons I learnt

1. Faithfulness to God goes a long way-David’s faithfulness to God sowed the seed for his children’s lives. Our God is a God who remembers His promises to His children from generations to generations, kept David in mind and dealt with them keeping David in mind. Our faith is more powerful than we can imagine. It goes beyond our lives, right upto the lives of our children and our children’s children.
2. Does God really have to bribe us to follow him?-Another big lesson I learnt from David’s life is that, David was not asking God for more money, more kingdoms, more people, more followers etc. All I remember from his life is, he did what he was asked to do. Even when he had to go for battle he would ask God if he should go for it or not. David just followed God. When he fumbled or made a mistake, he asked for forgiveness and went right back on track after God. Doesn’t the Word of God say in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." I guess this is the biggest lesson I learnt from David’s life. David followed God and God blessed him in whatever he did. Isn’t that the same thing that happened to Joseph, though he went through trials and slavery and punishment for someone else’s fault, God blessed him in whatever he did and finally he came out a winner and all things were added unto him. When Abraham decided to follow God and trust him, he left Ur and later on we see he became rich and famous, just because he had faith in God.
   
   Conclusion-There are two very important lessons I learnt from this, how important our faith and faithfulness is, not only to us but also to our children. The other important thought I was thinking is, if a father had to pay his son or daughter to spend time with him, how cruel that would be. How sad that situation would be. Isn’t that the kind of attitude we’ve got for God today. Going to Him (our Father in heaven) only in time of need and in times of trouble and when we want something. It is true that God is our help in times of trouble, but then what about when the times are good, what’s our relationship with our Living Father then?? Let’s look at our relationship with our Lord very closely and see what our real attitude is towards our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Do we keep looking at God’s hand for all the things we can get or do we want to see His face and enjoy being His children, obedient in bringing a smile upon His face?

Quality Tested

The Bible records in 2 Samuel 23 the last words of David and in 2 Samuel 24 :1 we read "1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah." I was surprised that such a test be desired for David at such an old age. However, David went on with the census even though Joab his commander tried to talk David out of it."3 But Joab replied to the king, "May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?" . Well needless to say, that did not work and David went ahead with the census anyway. "10 David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." Now comes the interesting part, God asks David a very unique question, I dont think I have come across such question posed to anyone else in the Bible so far. Gad the prophet came over to David and said "This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' "
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three [b] years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me." and you know what David decided "14 David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men." David's answer is wonderful. More than that God asks David to perform a sacrifice and the plague in Israel is stopped.

Lessons

1. God tests His people for their faithfulness,no matter what their age. There is no time a believer can take a vacation from faith. Our faith is active and alive, working every single moment of our lives. Romans 1:17 says "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." Our very life depends on faith and thus it doesn't matter how old we get, as long as we live, we live by faith and God tested David to see whether his faith held ground even at that old age.
2. David's powerful understanding and relationship with God-I sometimes wonder if I were in David's place would I be able to make such a decision as David did. He could make a sure decision because he "knew" God, he could not vouch for people or for anything else but David could confidently vouch for God, he could vouch for God's mercies as he knew God's mercies are new every morning and His love endures forever.
3. Every failure David runs to God- One of the most important lessons David's life resounds is about God's forgiveness. David knew God's mercy more than anyone else I've met so far in my Bible lessons I guess. David didn't have such perfect life as one would expect from a man of God. He had some major downfalls, sins in his span of life. However the key that made David a "man after God's own heart" was his admittance that he keeps falling, he makes consistent effort to stay obedient to God in every step of his way. Every time he failed, he just ran to God and almost like threw himself at God's feet for God's mercy. He relentlessly surrendered to God at every situation of his life (be it success or a failure) and God always took him. You know, many times when we fall short (which we will because we're still in a flesh which tends to disobey God."Matthew 26:41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." we learn from David , we MUST run TO GOD and not away.
4. Nothing cheap for God-Later on when God asked David to perform a sacrifice, David was at Araunah's place and Araunah offered all that he had to David to be able to sacrifice. However David replied "24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." These verses are used as wonderful testimony for David anywhere people talk about David. Surely David gave God the best, always. Even in his life, he offered what was costly to any human, his life.

Conclusion: We're coming to the end of the life of a man who has impacted lives of believers around the world. David has taught me that we have failures but that shouldn't discourage us from following our Living God, he knows we are flesh and we are weak more than anyone else. he doesn't expect us to be perfect, if God did where would we stand. David's life brings out a different kind of intense relationship man can have with God. A man after God's own heart. Even though he had many faults and shortcomings, he yet followed God whole heartedly, totally depending on God for whatever God's decision would be for his life. God always turned his life around no matter how bad he messed up. We have hope with our Living God. There is no refuge like our Living God, Who reaches out for His children to bring them out of darkness into light.

A Song in Praise

David, a man who went through so many troubles, so many hardships, family problems, enemy problems, sin, sons fighting among themselves, sons misbehaving with their sisters, people who were not faithful to him for the care he showed to them when they were in trouble...well and so many more. This kind of a man, writes a song to the Living God

He said: "The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn [a] of my salvation.

He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent men you save me.
4 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
5 "The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
6 The cords of the grave [b] coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
7 In my distress I called to the LORD; I called out to my God.

From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.
8 "The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens [c] shook;

they trembled because he was angry.
9 Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
10 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
11 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared [d] on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness his canopy around him— the dark [e] rain clouds of the sky.
13 Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth.
14 The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.
15 He shot arrows and scattered the enemies , bolts of lightning and routed them.
16 The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare

at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.
17 "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.
18 He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
19 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.
20 He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
21 "The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God.
23 All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.
24 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.
25 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness [f] in his sight.
26 "To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
27 to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
28 You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.
29 You are my lamp, O LORD; the LORD turns my darkness into light.
30 With your help I can advance against a troop [g] ;with my God I can scale a wall.
31 "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless.

He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
32 For who is God besides the LORD ? And who is the Rock except our God?
33 It is God who arms me with strength [h] and makes my way perfect.
34 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.
35 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great.
37 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn.
38 "I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet.
40 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet.
41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.
42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the LORD, but he did not answer.
43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.
44 "You have delivered me from the attacks of my people; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know are subject to me,
45 and foreigners come cringing to me; as soon as they hear me, they obey me.
46 They all lose heart; they come trembling [i] from their strongholds.
47 "The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior!
48 He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me,
49 who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me.
50 Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing praises to your name.
51 He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,

to David and his descendants forever."

This poem that David wrote is so uplifting. There are times when you feel there is no help, the situation seems overwhelming. It may not be a problem caused by the outside forces, it may be something my own inability or failure might have stirred up, but God remains faithful. That does not mean we take advantage of God's goodness, but it means to give ourselves to Him totally that He may set everything right.

A young boy was building a kite, he did not know how it works but he just wanted to make one. He had all the items needed, his dad asked him if he needed help, he said "No". The boy did make something, though it was not a kite and it was all messed up. His dad waited and watched by his side as the boy continued to try to fix it. Finally he could not. He turned to his dad and asked his dad if he could help. Of course by this time, the material was over, the kite was torn, the wires and stuff all entangled. Dad patiently yet, helped the boy and untagled everything one by one, patched up the work, got some new material and made the kite a kite. It wouldn't have had that many patches if the boy had asked his dad for help in the first place isn't. I am sometimes like that boy, trying to do things on my own, thinking that I could make it work better, but the One Daddy who watches from heaven is the one who really has a clear idea of what I am at and how it'll work out.

Let's learn to trust our Living Heavenly Father with "every " issue of our life, "every endeavour" we may ever take up and let Him make things work together for our good. He knows, even when we didn't. No matter how trivial the thing may seem, lets give it to our daddy to guide us and help us do it right, the first time. That saves a lot of potential patches the end result would have.

God Bless

Keep up the Good Work!!

David's life now becomes interesting, on the one hand Ziba, Mephibosheth's (Jonathan's son) steward comes to bless David with food and supplies for his journey and on the other hand there is Shemei from Saul's clan come out to curse David. However David goes on with his journey and reaches his destination.

In the meanwhile, Absalom has gathered up his people at Jerusalem. Now a word about Ahithophel "23 Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel's advice."(2 Samuel 16:23) . Yet when God had decided to thwart Ahithophel's plan nothing in his status remained and Ahithophel's plan wasn't considered by Absalom. Later on we read Ahithophel committed suicide because no one honoured his plan. Then there was a battle between David's men and Absalom's followers and Absalom was struck down by David's men even when David had asked them not to kill him and David mourned.

When David returned to the City, all the people who had left him came to meet him, Shimei who had cursed David when he was fleeing, Mephibosheth who had hoped he would get the kingdom when David dies and the likes, David did not treat them as they deserved but forgave them and let them stay in the kingdom. Later on the people of Judah (who had given David refuge while he was fleeing) and the Israelites( who had been following Absalom when he was alive) had an argument and they split. People of Judah remained with David but the Israelites left him.

Lessons I learnt

1. It didn't matter to David who treated him how at his low times, he kept doing the right thing-If we read the account of David fleeing from his son Absalom for fear of being killed and the people who supported him and the people who didn't I find that David did not deal with the people in revenge or the way they treated him. He treated all of them with kindness, whether they deserved it or not."Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Our good deeds should not be dependent on how the other person behaves towards us, but on how our connection is with our Living Lord.
2. Forgiveness- Though we don't see David explicitly forgiving anyone who hurt him, we do see in his actions that his works showed that he had forgiven them and cared for them anyway."4Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[c] And lead us not into temptation.[d]' " (Luke 11:4) Isn't this one of the main things our Lord Jesus taught us to pray?

Conclusion: Even David's life talks about things that our Lord Jesus wants us to learn, a message from New Testament. To love one another, to do good no matter what the weather condition at your surroundings. Dear God, help us to learn this lesson in our lives, to do good and forgive even as You did not deal with us the way we deserve, but died for us while we were yet sinners. How much more we need to learn from You Lord Jesus. Please teach us to become more and more like You. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.

Envisioning a Hopeful Future with Confidence!!!

David now headed for the worship ground, meets his friend Hushai there. Hushai like any good friend, is devastated at David's fate and all the trouble that David is going through."32 When David arrived at the summit, where people used to worship God, Hushai the Arkite was there to meet him, his robe torn and dust on his head. "(2 Samuel 15:32) When Hushai wants to share in the grief, "David said to him, "If you go with me, you will be a burden to me. " and I went uh..what!!! how can someone who cares for you, who wants to cry with you, who wants to be with you in that terrible situation of yours be a burden!!! But thats what David says to Hushai!!!. Then David says "....return to the city and say to Absalom, 'I will be your servant, O king; I was your father's servant in the past, but now I will be your servant,' then you can help me by frustrating Ahithophel's advice. 35 Won't the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Tell them anything you hear in the king's palace. 36 Their two sons, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar, are there with them. Send them to me with anything you hear." (2 Samuel 15:34-36). I am amazed at this man David.
Just in the previous verse before he reaches the summit where people worship we see a heart broken downtrodden David, the Bible writes "30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.(2 Samuel 15:30), when David comes to know of what was happening behind him in his kingdom (2Samuel 15:31) David turned to God and then on we dont see a crying David, we see an active David, a David who now has a plan, who now knows what he wants, how things would turn out for him, because he has prayed to the one he knows as the ever present and only help in times of trouble, and I feel as I read, he has some kind of a surety with which he sends his friend Hushai to return to the city to frustrate Ahithopel's plan. Now I dont see any clear instructions that David gives Hushai for doing so, he just sends him back to the city and asks him to keep him informed through the sons of a priest back there.

Lessons I learnt

1. Though distressed for a moment, David finds strength in prayer-David does not look doubtful for a moment about his prayer to God to thwart Ahithopel's counsel. He might not have had a clearly defined answer for his prayer, right now but he was confident God would surely do something for him. David says in one of his psalms " 14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. " (Psalms 10:14). Isn't it beautiful to know, that God considers our trouble and grief as the victim of that commits himself to you.
2. Not looking to dwell in the sorrows of today but looking ahead to tomorrow-The above Psalm helps me see what David meant when he prayed, he meant to commit (surrender) himself to God, the only help he knew. He did not want a party of people who would continue crying for his situation but people who would act by faith. By faith that God would deliver David. He was looking ahead. He did not want to be stuck in thinking about his current situation and how sad and how devastating it was and he did not want to be reminded of it with tears of a well-meaning friend Hushai, hence he calls Hushai a burden if he stays with him. David was looking forward to his freedom, to his victory, to an answer of his prayers. There could be chance that Hushai would be killed, because he followed David and after all they were fleeing from Absalom and his conspirators in the first place. Why else would David have the courage to send back a good friend in the face of danger!!! Faith-thats what David found when he prayed.Looking at the day when God would deliver him.
3. Confidence in God always pays-You know what David was right in being confident that God would surely answer his prayer. In 2 Samuel 17:14 we read "14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, "The advice of Hushai the Arkite is better than that of Ahithophel." For the LORD had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom. " Isn't that exactly what David had prayed!!! David did not shrink from what God had said would happen to him and heres what the Bible says " 35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38But my righteous one[f] will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."[g] 39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved."(Hebrews 10:35-39). I dont know if David had confidence that his prayer is going to be answered, but he was certain that God would surely look at his situation and help him.

Conclusion: We cannot always explain all the situation we go through, surely for David this was a consequence as God had told him, but even then David knew, this was time to get more closer to God and not run away from Him. David showed confidence in God. Much of David's Psalms start off with a sad note, crying out to God, pleading for deliverance, struggling to stay right with God, but the most beautiful thing is the way he ends them, they all end with a hope of waiting on the Lord, waiting for His deliverance, waiting at God's feet even when situations don't look like they'll ever change. Thats how confident David is of His Saviour. How confident of my Lord, am I??