Love's Sincerest Sacrifice

FORGIVENESS FROM THE FATHER

The heart of King David was such that he could not bring himself to take King Saul's life, the king rejected by God.

My dear readers, do you find it ironic that in a world where evil abounds, from common criminals who steal, rape, and murder, to nations waging war against nations and killing massive amounts of people for more political power and fortune, to all sorts of evils that keep government courts very busy by carrying out a sentance that may be just and yet one of the hardest responses to the suffering that wickedness creates is to forgive. Justice feels so right, but forgiveness takes a strength of character and love that is all too often beyond human ability.

Love's Sincerest Sacrifice Is From God

The Psalmist, when speaking about the magnitude of God's lovingkindness and compassion, said it this way, in Psalm 103:2-4, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion."

In verse 9, he goes on to say, "He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever." The Psalmist is telling us that God is in no way unjust, or lacking righteousness. He then turns us back from God's justice to the inexhaustible love of His forgiveness when he continues in verses 10-12; emphasis added. "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west (In a straight line), so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

Loves Sincerest Sacrifice Comparing David To Solomon

The truth about David is this: we are told in God's Word that King David was a man after God's own heart, and because of this, as imperfect as he was and all earthly saints are, his desires aligned very well with those of God. We understand this about David through his unwillingness to take matters into his own hands. Samuel, by God's will, anointed David to be king and take Saul's place, who was ruined by pride, the lust for power, and continually took matters into his own hands. Despite David's calling and anointing, he refused to take Saul's life when he had the chance repeatedly. In fact, David's mighty men could have taken out Saul and his forces any time they wanted.

We are told in 1 Kings 2:1-3, "As David's time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2 "I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man." David understood his son Solomon and that he was not a man of war, fighting, and bloodshed, but he he needed to do the right thing according to God. Therefore, he continued in verse three, ""Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn."

David told his son Solomon about the unjust men in his kingdom, who were Joab and Shimei, and how they deserved punishment for the evil they committed. Solomon, upon hearing these things, fulfilled his father's wishes by ordering justice to be done against the men for their sins, and he also reacted against his brother Adonijah, putting him to death for desiring to replace Solomon and take his throne as Adonijah was his older brother.

Loves Sincerest Sacrifice in King David

Serious questions must be asked and answered at this point. Why didn't David take the lives of the men he spoke to Solomon about? Why did Solomon take the life of Adonijah, his brother, for desiring the throne, and David cried over Absalom because he ordered his safety, even though Absalom would have had his father killed? During David's life, he killed Goliath, the man who cursed the LORD'S armies and the LORD Himself, with a stone and a sword. He fled from Saul for 14 years, during which he served as a paid mercenary and killed the Lord's enemies. As king, he went to war many times and killed many men, and also warred against the LORD'S enemies before Saul sought his life, and under Saul's leadership.

What changed for David? It is, in my prayerful consideration, that David could no more kill God's people, even if in name only, than he could kill Saul when he was seeking his own life. David said he could not kill the Lord's anointed. Does a person need to be king, a position outside of God's will, by the way, to be the Lord's anointed? Solomon, on the other hand, cared less for the Lord's anointed than his father; he cared more for his position than the Lord's anointing. David was a man after God's own heart. Solomon was a man after his own heart's desires.

Love's Sincerest Sacrifice (forgiveness) can only be accomplished by a person who has received it for themself first, as it was fulfilled on Calvary's hill.

My dear reader, do you believe that saying a simple prayer, walking an aisle, and professing to be a Christian is all there is to enter heaven? If that were true, would the following words have ever been written in God's Word?

"Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is [still] called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME." (Hebrews 3:12-15)

"Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on [the testimony of] two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:28-29)

"Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." (Matthew 18:32-35)