PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: 2 Samuel 13-14
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Tamar lived in her brother Absalom’s house, a devastated woman.” (2 Samuel 13:20)
Sin is not just about the bad things we do, but the devastation we cause.
Every selfish action has a devastating impact on others, whether we realize it or not.
We need to FEEL both the horror of Ammon’s sin and of Tamar’s desolation.
We need to be sickened by the devastation still happening all over the world.
Every sin causes devastation and a ripple effect of consequences.
Multiply this for every person ever, and we see why the world is such a mess.
Do we really appreciate how serious sin is, and how horrible its effects are?
Do I feel how others are hurt by things I did or didn’t do?
Forgiveness is not all we need, we need rescue from sin’s bondage and misery.
We need to feel the awful truth of sin, and how desperate we are in it.
God knows every Tamar, and is devastated for them, with them, like them.
This is what the cross shows: how bad sin is, and how far God goes to help us.
Every Good Friday we see in Jesus’s suffering the devastation of all humanity.
God hates the devastation of sin, and God is devastated in order to set us free!
PRAYER
Lord, we cannot appreciate your sacrifice until we realize the horrible devastation of sin. Through your crucifixion remind me of how bad sin is… but also how great your love is!
“Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.” Absalom is guilty of killing his brother Amman, so it seems to me that David’s banishment of him seems appropriate. David too is guilty of having Uriah killed – he became remorseful and suffered punishment. The words of Joab seem prophetic here – pointing to Jesus – God’s way of providing a means back to Him so that we are not banished forever! WE are all sinners in need of grace. Thank you Lord Jesus! Help us to live within that grace as changed people. It seems to me that Absalom followed his own way and did not seek the Lord’s way. He wanted to wrest the kingdom away from David – but it was not to be.