King David Series: The Sure Mercies

Message 5 June 2016 The King David Series # The Sure Mercies

It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today. - 2 Samuel 16:12 ref 5-13

And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. – Acts 13:34 cross ref. Isaiah 55:3

In many ways David was a symbol of God’s mercies. He showed mercy.  He received mercy and He was a promise of mercy to come through his Son who would reign forever.  No wander he was a man after God’s heart. God is merciful and shows his mercy as he chooses (Exodus 33:19; Psalm 116:5; 145:8-10).

As evidenced in the Psalms often David would ask the Lord to have mercy on him. He would say ‘Be merciful to me’ and ‘be merciful to us’. He was not only asking for forgiveness of sin but was acknowledging that everything God does including extending his grace is an act of mercy. They are premised on his mercy. He knew every prayer is a cry for mercy.  At the foundation of human relations with God is mercy. That is why at the heart of the tabernacle of Moses that typified the real one in heaven is the MERCY SEAT. Mercy is the only way a holy God could deal with sinful humanity. Mercy reconciles Divine perfection with human imperfection. God’s  throne is a throne of mercy where through the blood of Jesus believers can approach confidently when in need of mercy and grace.

If you understood David’s heart of mercy  you could bring him to mercy as Nathan did with the story of the poor who was treated unjustly (2 Samuel 12:1-7) or find mercy with him as Abigail (1 Samuel 25) and Abner (2 Samuel 3) did.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Mathew 5: 7)

With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. (Psalm 18:25)

David understood that God was merciful and that showing mercy brought God to one’s side. He exercised great restrain and patience to show mercy. For without both mercy is impossible. His mercy however, as the man himself, was not perfect but his heart definitely leaned I the right direction. An example of imperfection is his forgiveness of Shimei then later instructing Solomon to deal with Shimei.

Mercy however proved an invaluable ingredient in David’s strong people skills. Because of it he was a master diplomat that given a chance he would negotiate as an option to fighting. He had incredible wisdom to effectively engage with friends and foe. There is always opportunity to fight out every disagreement. The lesson from David is that there are battles to fight but sometimes better results come from using alternative approaches. David chose his battles and showed great restraint in dealing with everything that was going wrong.

I. David Showed Mercy

David tended to be merciful even to his enemies so much that his compatriots such as Joab were puzzled. While David used diplomacy to explore all possibilities to solving differences Joab believed in winning by force of strength.

-           Abigail understood the merciful and diplomatic attributes of David and negotiated to save her family. Negotiation is persuasive communication in which people with differing views attempt to reach agreement on an issue. A negotiator gives trade-offs within set limits of what is acceptable, best and worst case outcome.  To negotiate well Abigail understood the situation. She set her objective to save her family from David’s wrath after her husband had send David’s servants away unceremoniously. She took with her generous provisions because she understood David’s interests in the situation. She was willing to give away something.  She identified common ground by agreeing with David that her husband had been unreasonable. She bowed down and showed respect deserving of a person of David’s stature and to show her good faith. She proposed a solution that appealed to the values of David by highlighting that David was not the kind to fight his own battles. He was one who trusted God to fight for him. She argued, ‘When The Lord has done for my master every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him leader over Israel, my master will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself.’ She saw from a spiritual view. Where Nabal saw young men deserting their masters Abigail saw a king in waiting. She as a result managed to reach a peaceful agreement with David.

-           David spared Saul from death two times. He showed restraint and kindness even when he had the power and opportunity/ good reason to penalize, hurt Saul. He showed great patience and faith in God to fight for him. He waited for God's time to be appointed king. As God said vengeance was his. Sparing Saul saved him from being perceived as a rebel. He allowed God to work things out. How patient are you when an outgoing or outdated situation lingers on.

-           David mourned Saul. Later when Saul died he deeply mourned him. As an act of mercy towards Saul he even killed the person who brought the news and hoped to reap benefits from doing so. Further David had the remains of Saul and Jonathan removed from their former resting place and buried with honor.

-           David killed the assassins who brought the head of ishbosheth to him. Ishbosheth had delayed David’s kingship over the whole of Israel for years (2 Sam. 4:5-12). The name Ishbosheth means "man of shame."

-           David brought Absalom back.  He was king and had just brought his son, Absalom, home to set aside their differences (2 Samuel 14:1-21). Absalom had killed his brother Amnon for raping his sister Tamar. Joab saw how David was concerned about Absalom and facilitated through the woman of Tekoa who told David a story of a pitiful situation. Through it they persuaded David to bring back Absalom to Jerusalem from exile. They succeeded by appealing to the merciful side of David who was already concerned about Absalom.

-           David mourned Absalom. He had pleaded with his army generals to spare Absalom. The king gave this order to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “For my sake deal gently with the young man Absalom.” (2 Samuel 18:5). Yet Absalom instead of being grateful after being brought back from exile stole the hearts of Israel, betrayed his father and took the kingdom away from him. David had to suffer humiliation and  run away into exile himself as a result. Absalom even slept with his father’s concubine on the roof top. Absalom however had no chance with the Old man who was a seasoned strategist (2 Samuel 17:5)  leading to him dying in battle. David mourned and was rebuked, ‘And so Joab rebukes David… "Thou hast shamed their faces; for, while they have shown such a value for thy life, thou hast shown no value for theirs, but preferrest a spoiled wicked youth, a false traitor to his king and country, whom we are happily rid of, before all thy wise counsellors, brave commanders,…’  [This was of course a part of the consequences of his sin of adultery and murderous cover up announced by Nathan 2 Samuel 12)]. 

-           David mourned Abner (2 Samuel 3).  David opted for diplomacy to bring the 11 tribes of Israel yet to appoint him king into the fold. Abner was the man who called the shots in the Northern tribes. After being challenged about his relationship with one of the late Saul’s concubine (3:9) sought peace with David.  He now claimed to be acting in response to God’s choice of David as King over all Israel. So  he struck a peace deal with David. Just as the news went round Abner was killed by Joab who wanted vengeance on Abner for all the trouble he had caused and for having killed his brother Asahel. The killing of Abner brought the two sides on the brink of war. Joab cared little  about diplomacy or politics. David publicly mourned and instructed all to tear their garments in mourning and honor to Abner (3:31).

-           David showed mercy  to Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 19:24-30). His mercy called him from hiding to sit with him at the table in the palace. He did not only forgive but restored what was Saul’s. Still showed mercy when Mephibosheth stayed behind when David ran away from Absalom. On return he welcomed him back. Saul’s servant Ziba had lied that Mephibosheth who was crippled had deliberately back stabbed David by remaining in Jerusalem for which he got all that belonged to Mephibosheth. Yet David took only half of the belongings back and gave them to Mephibosheth.

-           David showed mercy to Shimei (2 Samuel 16:5-12). A man who yelled curses at David and threw rocks at him. He yelled out, “Get out of here you murderer, you scoundrel! The Lord is paying you back. You stole his (Saul’s) throne.” Yet David stopped Abishai from killing Shimei. His argument was perhaps God had allowed the abuse to provide an opportunity for him to show mercy so that God  could in turn  show mercy to David. Showing mercy left the door open for him to receive mercy. If expecting God to do great things with you leave behind right seed. God is not mocked. God sees what you’re going through. He sees the attacks and has not forgotten you. He will restore you. May take a while but watch it.

-           David showed mercy to Nathan and Gad who brought hard prophecies which he humbly received. Some kings persecuted prophets for bringing the word of the Lord.

-           He showed mercy to Adonijah who tried to usurp kingship from Solomon (1 Kings 2)

II. David Received Mercy

David made some major blunders in his life and found mercy with God (Psalm 32, 51). They included lying, murder and adultery and are listed in the message with link below. Adulterers were to be stoned. ‘If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife,  the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.’ Leviticus 20:10

http://wordoers.blogspot.co.za/2016/05/king-david-series-rise-up-and-move-on.html

When life was going well with David in 2 Samuel he experienced decline in his spiritual and political glamor. The decline continued until when he repents from counting people and built an altar to God at the threshing floor he bought from Arauna. From then own he resumed in Ernest activities to prepare Solomon and preparations for the building of the temple.

III. David Promised Mercy

David’s mercy was defected but God through the Davidic covenant promised the rise of Jesus Christ who would sit on David’s throne forever guaranteeing perfect mercies to all believers. Jesus the son of David perfected mercy.

And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. – Acts 13:34 cross ref. Isaiah 55:3

Isaiah 55 is an invitation to the Sure Mercies of David     

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price...

 verse 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 

... Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. 

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord .  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

... So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace:...

Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree:...

The mercies of David must have been a common subject among the people of Christ’s day. The Canaanite woman understood that the son of David perfected mercy. When her daughter was tormented by evil spirits she cried out Son of David have mercy (Luke 18:1-10). She had so much faith she negotiated even just for the crumbs. She knew where there is mercy there is room for negotiations. The Lord had mercy on her.  Blind Bartimaeus, desperately wanted his sight (Mark 10:46-52). He cried out Son of David have mercy on me. The more they tried to stop him the louder and more he cried out. The Lord had mercy on him. 

In Christ you received mercy. Unto whom mercy is given mercy is required. Jesus gave a parable of a servant who received mercy but failed to extend mercy (Mathew 18:28-33). In you is a promise of mercy to someone else - share it. The promise of mercy through Christ is deposited - receive it. 

Whatever your need the sure unfailing mercies of David can save, heal, restore, deliver and provide. Let your faith arise and call out, Son of David have mercy on me.  The Lord will have mercy on you. 

Additional:

As much as was possible, David’s life was spent in diplomacy motivated by mercy.

-           He convinced Saul he could kill Goliath through the story of how he had killed a lion and a bear.

-           He asked what reward was attached to killing Goliath even though he was not fighting for the reward. In fact he was not given the reward of promised tax exemption, Saul’s daughter nor riches. He still had to find 100 foreskins to get Saul’s daughter for which he brought 200. Much unlike some African men who negotiate lobola on the basis of pleading for reductions. David however still lost the wife only to demand her back years later when he became King.

-           Twice he met the man doing everything to find and kill him. But his persuasion convinced Saul not to kill him but instead to prophesy that David would indeed become king.

-           He had to be forcefully ejected from Saul’s Palace. He would have lived and served Saul. But his faithful service, his  victory over Goliath, his valiant exploits in the army, his soothing harp music to Saul, his appeal to Samuel, his marriage to Saul's daughter and his soul friendship with Saul's son, all failed to win Saul's favor. He had to be missed by a spear twice - for most once is enough to say enough is enough.

-           David made strategic alliances even through whom he married as was the practice in those days. (1 Chronicles 13).

-           Developed a mutually beneficial friendship and strategic alliance with Hiram a Canaanite king of the wealthy city of Tyre. Canaanite people who believed in Baal were usually the enemies of Israel. Hiram probably initially wanted protection.  He in the process provided materials, skill and ideas for building David’s house as well as the temple that Solomon built. A lesson is that some of your provisions are in the hands of a Canaanite. God will give wisdom to engage and unlock them without compromising your values (1 kings 5:1). 

-           Negotiated shelter from Saul with King Achsh of the Philistines. This despite having killed their giant Goliath and having escaped earlier by playing the mad man. He was even given land, at Ziklag. While he was protected from Saul his army defended the Philistine southern borders from non-Israeli enemies.

Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.

Faith Ministries – Johannesburg Faith Life Center.

First Floor Dhando House,

66 Eloff Street Extension,

Village Deep,

 Johannesburg,

South Africa