Word of Encouragement (11/09/2023)

But the king said, "What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD has said to him, 'Curse David,' who then shall say, 'Why have you done so?'" (2 Sam. 16:10)

Here we see another instance of David’s total surrender to God. As David was fleeing, Shimei, a man of the family of the house of Saul, cursed him, throwing stones at him and his people (vv. 6-8). Outraged, Abishai the son of Zeruiah told David that he would kill him. These words were David’s response, which reflected David’s inner posture before God.

They show that, because David surrendered himself to God, he was not bothered or terrified by Shimei’s curse (or anyone else’s, for that matter). If all these things were happening to him because God cursed him, he had no choice but to bear them in humility. What could he do to avert God’s curse if He meant it? Where could he go to escape God’s wrath? Yes, he was running away from Absalom, but he knew all too well that he could never outrun God’s curse. If Shimei’s cursing were all a part of God’s judgment on David, what would be the point of silencing Shimei?

David’s words also show that, because he feared the LORD more than anything, he did not fear Shimei’s cursing. By committing his life to his God and resolving in his heart to receive whatever God had in store for him, he experienced “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). If God meant it for good, did it matter how many more people joined Absalom and Shimei to curse him and kill him? David knew that his life and his weal and woe were all in God’s hands, not in Absalom’s murderous hatred against him, or Ahithophel’s brilliant strategy, or Shimei’s vicious curses. So, he refused to quarrel with these mere mortals and complain about what they were doing to him. He waited on God, ready to take whatever He sent his way. By doing so, he came to possess the kind of tranquility, which was not shaken by what people were doing to him.

As someone said, if we don’t fear God, we will end up fearing everyone and everything, but if we fear God, we will not fear anything else. If God is for us, who can be against us? But if God is against us, who can help us? What is the fundamental orientation of your life? Do you live by the godly fear of God (not the kind of fear, which makes you run away from Him in dreadful terror but the kind that draws you to God in holy reverence), which is the beginning of wisdom? Or do you keep your distance from God because you don’t trust Him for some reason?

David could not be sure why God was allowing such horrible things in his life, so much so that he genuinely feared that God had abandoned him (as He had done Saul). But we, who are united with Jesus Christ through faith, have the assurance that God will never abandon us. Because Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” we will never be forsaken by God. Even when it feels like our whole world is collapsing, we have the assurance that God means it for good. Let us wait on the Lord in confident trust.