Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Samuel 13:23-39.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

2 Samuel 13:23-35 (NIV)
23  Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal Hazor near the border of Ephraim, he invited all the king’s sons to come there.
24  Absalom went to the king and said, “Your servant has had shearers come. Will the king and his officials please join me?”
25  “No, my son,” the king replied. “All of us should not go; we would only be a burden to you.” Although Absalom urged him, he still refused to go, but gave him his blessing.
26  Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon come with us.” The king asked him, “Why should he go with you?”

On verses 23-35:  Sometimes you’ll hear people say, “Time heals all wounds.”  It doesn’t.  We see that in Absalom’s case.  Two years had passed since Amnon raped Absalom’s sister Tamar.  During those two years, Absalom’s bitterness toward Amnon did not subside; rather Absalom held onto the grudge which eventually led him to mastermind Amnon’s murder. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Samuel 13:1-22.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

2 Samuel 13:1 (NIV)
1 In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David. 

On verse 1:  Verse 1 says that David’s son Amnon fell in love with her beautiful half sister Tamar.  But make no mistake about it.  What Amnon had for Tamar was not love but lust.  We’ll see the difference between love and lust clearly through this passage.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Samuel 12:15-31.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Samuel 12:15 (NIV)
15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.

On verse 15:  Whenever a person has a miscarriage, or a child gets sick and dies prematurely, does that mean that God is actively giving the baby a sickness and punishing a child for their parent’s sins?  No.  Remember that in the Old Testament, the mindset of people was that everything — both good and bad — comes from God.  In a way they’re correct insofar as without God there wouldn’t be anything.  But when you read the New Testament, rather than emphasizing that everything good and bad comes directly from God, Jesus and the New Testament writers make a couple distinctions.  First, everything good is from God (James 1:17).  Second, when it comes to things that we consider bad, like sickness, sin, the death of a baby, an evil spirit or someone going to hell, these are not things that God wants. 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Samuel 12:1-14.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Samuel 12:1 (NIV)
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David…

On verse 1a:  Nathan the prophet was David’s friend and pastor.  Previously it was through Nathan that God spoke some powerful and encouraging promises to David about his future (2 Samuel 7:4-17).  Now Nathan was to confront David to speak the truth in love regarding David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. 

I like what Pastor Jon Courson puts it:
“God didn’t send an enemy of David to talk to him about his sin. He sent a friend. This is most often the way of the Lord. When He has a word of correction to bring us, inevitably it will be by someone who has a heart for us. Conversely, unless your heart is filled with compassion for the person you are about to correct, it is probably not your responsibility to correct him.” [1]