SERIES: David: A Person After God’s Heart
Letting God Be God When Facing Injustice
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: Think back to the last time you were treated unfairly or suffered unjustly. Maybe it was a long time ago; more likely, it happened just this past week. Either way, the memories are undoubtedly painful, because most of us have a very strong sense of fairness. I think the thing I have had the most difficulty teaching my two boys over the years is that “life is not fair.” It really isn’t, and the sooner we grasp that fact, the sooner we are going to learn how to cope with disappointment.
Some of you wives have been betrayed by the husband you loved and served faithfully, or vice versa; it isn’t fair, but it happened.
One of the finest young men in this church was recently denied admission to the college of his choice because of an error committed by the admissions office, which they acknowledged but refused to rectify; it isn’t fair, but it happened.
Some of you in the business world have been told by your employer of many years that you no longer have a job and that you are not even allowed to go and clean out your desk or say goodbye to your staff; it isn’t fair, but it happened.
The question I want to address this morning is, “How do we cope with unfairness and betrayal and injustice?” It’s not easy. The natural response is to demand our rights, to threaten to sue, to take revenge. But what is the godly response?
David experienced injustice frequently–from the hand of Saul, from Nabal, and Absalom. Today we are going to focus on an even more gut-wrenching incident of unfairness and injustice–one during which David must have been strongly tempted to take things into his own hands and respond with revenge. But he didn’t, even though he clearly had the power to do so. Instead, he let God be God.
David handles injustice by recognizing …
… that God sometimes allows people of incredible disloyalty and ill will to antagonize us. (16:5-14) God’s permissive will is a very difficult theological problem for most of us. He’s for us, yet at times He permits things to happen to us that almost do us in. God has never offered guarantees that we will be treated well, even when we deserve it. On the contrary, He has promised that we will not be treated well by this world, because our Savior wasn’t, and we’re on His team.
Turn with me to 2 Samuel 15. Absalom, David’s son, has staged a coup, and we begin reading in verse 13:
A messenger came and told David, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”
Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.”
The king’s officials answered him, “Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.”
The king set out, with his entire household following him; but he left ten concubines to take care of the palace. So the king set out, with all the people following him, and they halted at a place some distance away. All his men marched past him, along with all the Kerethites and Pelethites; and all the six hundred Gittites who had accompanied him from Gath marched before the king.
Let me summarize what’s going on here. David’s son, Absalom, has succeeded in forcing his father to abdicate the throne. David evacuates the Holy City, accompanied only by his wives, his children, some palace officials, and some foreigners–Kerethites, Pelethites, and 600 Gittites. David must feel much like the Lord Jesus felt during his earthly sojourn: “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” He apparently has more Philistines supporting him than Israelites right now.
There are, however, (according to verse 23), a great many people weeping as the king and his party leave the city and cross the Kidron Valley. I take it these are Israelites who hated to see their king treated in such a shabby way, but they aren’t about to risk their own welfare or jobs or homes by joining him. They remind me of people who have a kind of sentimental attachment to Christianity and pay lip service to their faith, but they aren’t willing to stand up and be counted as the Lord’s disciples when His name or His cause is being dragged through the mud.
David in his flight is approaching the town of Bahurim, about a half-day’s walk from Jerusalem. Remember that in a matter of hours David has gone from being one of the most powerful kings in the world to being a fugitive in the desert, with his son trying to kill him. That alone must have been incredibly humiliating, but then a guy named Shimei adds insult to injury. Let’s read 16:5-8 (from The Message):
When the king got to Bahurim, a man appeared who had connections with Saul’s family. His name was Shimei son of Gera. As he followed along he shouted insults and threw rocks right and left at David and his company, servants and soldiers alike. To the accompaniment of curses he shouted, “Get lost, get lost, you butcher, you hellhound! GOD has paid you back for all your dirty work in the family of Saul and for stealing his kingdom. GOD has given the kingdom to your son Absalom. Look at you now–ruined! And good riddance, you pathetic old man!”
One of my favorite T-shirts was frequently seen at Busch Stadium in St. Louis when the Mets were in town. It read, “The Mets are Pond-Scum.” I agreed, and I also included the Cubs and Houston and anyone else in St. Louis’ division. But I have to say that this man Shimei is lower than pond-scum. This guy is kicking David when he’s down, piling on when David is already dragging his knuckles on the ground. He’s classless and clueless, willing to share a piece of his mind he can ill afford to lose!
Have you ever had a Shimei in your life? Some time ago I went through some very dark days in the ministry. Nothing seemed to be going right, staff relationships were strained, board meetings were difficult, people’s expectations were way beyond reasonable, and tensions were even brewing at home. The only thing in my life I felt good about was my preaching. At least that was going well, and the congregation was regularly affirming it.
But then one day a leader who had a questionable track record in ministry himself, and who had frequently been disrespectful to me, had the gall to come into my office and say to me, “Your preaching is boring!” It wasn’t constructive criticism; it was intended to injure. It didn’t motivate; it discouraged. Unfortunately, all of us are going to occasionally face people with the gift of discouragement, the gift of piling on.
What in the world would make a slime ball like Shimei act this way when David is at the very lowest point in his life? Well, believe it or not, there probably is an explanation; not an excuse, mind you, but an explanation. We are told in verse 5 that Shimei is from the same clan as Saul’s family. Chances are he lost his perks and privileges when Saul died and a new dynasty took over. He just couldn’t come to grips with David’s reign. In addition, during the civil war after Saul’s death, many members of Saul’s family were killed, so Shimei probably lost a lot of relatives and blamed David for it.
But David recognizes something else of great importance going on here. While God sometimes allows people of incredible disloyalty and ill will to antagonize us, it is also true …
… that God brings people of incredible loyalty and grace across our path to help us through times of injustice or betrayal. (15:13-22) There are two special examples in today’s story of people who were “God-sends” to David in his time of need. The first is Ittai the Gittite. We just read about the 600 Gittites who accompany David as he flees from Jerusalem. Ittai was their leader. Listen to this dialogue between David and Ittai as found in chapter 15, beginning in verse 19:
The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom. You are a foreigner, an exile from your homeland. You came only yesterday. And today shall I make you wander about with us, when I do not know where I am going? Go back, and take your countrymen. May kindness and faithfulness be with you.”
But Ittai replied to the king, “As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.”
David said to Ittai, “Go ahead, march on.” So Ittai the Gittite marched on with all his men and the families that were with him.
What an example of loyalty and grace in the life of David at a time of great personal need! Ittai didn’t have to do this; he chose to. I don’t even know what attracted him to David–perhaps his courage, his prowess as a fighter, or his strong faith in God. But his commitment of loyalty rivals that of Ruth to Naomi:
Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me. (Ruth 1:16-17)
A second example is Barzillai, who appears in the story after Absalom is defeated and just as David is returning from exile to reclaim the throne. Listen to 19:31-37 (The Message):
Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim. He crossed the Jordan with the king to give him a good send-off. Barzillai was a very old man–eighty years old! He had supplied the king’s needs all the while he was in Mahanaim since he was very wealthy.
“Join me in Jerusalem,” the king said to Barzillai. “Let me take care of you.”
But Barzillai declined the offer, “How long do you think I’d live if I went with the king to Jerusalem? I’m eighty years old and not much good anymore to anyone. Can’t taste food; can’t hear music. So why add to the burdens of my master the king? I’ll just go a little way across the Jordan with the king. But why would the king need to make a great thing of that? Let me go back and die in my hometown and be buried with my father and mother.”
In Ittai’s case, his loyalty and love are shown by refusing to separate himself from David; in Barzillai’s case it is shown by refusing to become a burden to David. Don’t ever forget that God has His Ittai’s and Barzillai’s to help us survive when the Shimei’s are attacking us and kicking us while we are down. At the time I was so discouraged in the ministry, there were two individuals–a pastor colleague in another church and a dear lady on our staff–who showed me uncommon kindness. They would call and remind me of all the good things God was doing; they would listen patiently as I processed my hurt; they would urge me to hang in there and exercise my gifts.
Maybe you think kings and senior pastors shouldn’t need encouragement. After all, they’re at the top of the pile and they ought to have it all together. But those at the top of the pile have the furthest to fall, and they may be especially susceptible to discouragement. But thankfully, God is gracious to offer them people of incredible loyalty and grace in their time of need.
David handles injustice not only by recognizing some things, but also by refusing some other things.
David handles injustice by refusing …
… to risk harm to the Lord’s name to protect his own interests. (15:25) As David was fleeing from Jerusalem, we are told that “The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by.” Let’s pick up the story as found in 2 Samuel 15:24-30:
Zadok was there, too, and all the Levites who were with him were carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.
Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” (Skip down to verse 29)
So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.
But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.
Zadok the priest and a group of Levites have joined the King and are carrying the ark of the covenant of God. You will recall that it was David who recovered the Ark from a private home and brought it to the central sanctuary in Jerusalem decades before. The Levites were grateful for the intense interest the King had always shown in the tabernacle and the worship of Israel, and the last thing they want is for the ark to fall into the hands of Absalom. The priests set the ark down and one of them offers sacrifices until all of David’s followers have vacated the city.
But notice what David says in verse 25 to the high priest: “Take the ark of God back into the city.” I suspect David recalls the story about how the Israelites once took the ark into battle back in the days of Eli and it was captured by the enemy. The Israelites viewed it as a fetish to ensure victory, but God showed them that the presence of sacred symbols is never enough to offset disobedience. Now David reconsiders whether the Ark belongs to him or to the people of God. If he takes it with him and it is lost into the hands of infidels, God’s name will be harmed. This he cannot countenance. He knows that God is bigger than the Ark and that God’s power to save him is not dependent upon the presence of the Ark. So, even though he loves the Ark and cherishes it, he orders it returned to his rightful place in the tabernacle.
Let me try to draw a modern-day parallel. I know a pastor who was under pressure from liberal denominational executives to leave a church. He had the support of his congregation but it would take a nasty court battle to retain the property. He concluded that it would be better for the cause of Christ to surrender the building and start a new church elsewhere. God is bigger than any building, and His power is not dependent upon the place where his people meet. Was it just and fair that this pastor and his faithful people walk away from a building they built with their own hands and their sacrificial gifts? No, but they decided to let it go rather than fight, and God blessed that congregation immensely. The old building became like a mausoleum for the few who remained.
David not only refuses to risk harm to the Lord’s name to protect his own interests; he also refuses …
… to get angry with God for discipline he deserves. (15:25; 16:10-11) Look again at the words David speaks when he sends the Ark back to Jerusalem: “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it (i.e., the Ark) and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” David recognizes an important principle here: there’s no point in getting angry at God for pain we bring upon ourselves.
Frankly, I think there are a lot of Christians who need to grasp that principle and concentrate on it. Teenagers know that God’s Word demands that they save themselves for marriage, but the pregnant teenager and her boyfriend sometimes demand to know, “God, why me?” The middle-aged man learns that God’s Word discourages strong drink, but he curses God when alcoholism causes the disintegration of his home and the loss of his job. Why blame God for that which we bring on ourselves?
David may not be certain that the betrayal he is experiencing is God’s discipline upon him, but he has a pretty good idea it is. After all, it fits well the description of trouble predicted by the prophet Nathan after his sin with Bathsheba in chapter 12. I have often said that not every pain in our lives is a direct result of personal sin and that not every trial is brought by God’s discipline. But when it is, we’d best own up to it and submit to His discipline. But it takes a lot of courage to say to God, “Do whatever seems good to you; I’m ready to take whatever you dish out. I deserve it.” Third, David refuses …
… to accept counsel that appeals to ungodly instincts. (16:9-10) After Shimei heaps his curses on David, we read in 16:9, “Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.” I like the way Chuck Swindoll tells this story in an article he wrote for his church newsletter back in 1987: “One of David’s colleagues, a fella named Abishai, asked permission to put him out of his misery. He was serious. ‘Lemme at him. I’ll slit his neck so fast he won’t know it ’til he sneezes!’” That’s right out of the original Hebrew, I guess.
We all have friends like Abishai, and I use that term “friends” loosely. They are individuals who inevitably take our side and tell us what they think we want to hear. But they are not real friends because their counsel will only lead us into a deeper hole. Those of us who tend to react to losers like Shimei with anger and revenge need to be especially careful to pick counselors unlike Abishai, counselors who have gentle spirits and who will temper our tendency to retaliate, rather than encourage such rash behavior.
Instead of agreeing to the revenge Abishai demands, David says, “Let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t take kindly to curses, even when I deserve them, much less when they are undeserved. But it is important for us to learn that taking revenge is not nearly as effective as trusting God to deal with our enemies. He is far more capable of bringing retribution upon the wicked than we are. He has many more tools of discipline than we have.
You know something? This decision of David to show grace rather than exact vengeance was not just a momentary decision; it was a settled pattern of behavior on David’s part. Turn over to chapter 19, where we find the conclusion to the story of Shimei. Absalom has been defeated and is dead, and David is about to be restored to his throne. Listen to verses 14-23 (NIV):
He (i.e., David) won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your men.” Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan.
Now the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan. (Skip down to verse 18).
When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell prostrate before the king and said to him, “May my lord not hold me guilty. Do not remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind. For I your servant know that I have sinned, but today I have come here as the first of the whole house of Joseph to come down and meet my lord the king.”
Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this? He cursed the LORD’s anointed.”
David replied, “What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? This day you have become my adversaries! Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?” So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king promised him on oath. (19:14-23).
Now that is a demonstration of grace that is rare indeed! For the second time Abishai counsels the king to allow him to separate Shimei’s head from his body. And for the second time David refuses. This reminds me of how Jesus responded to James and John when they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54) in reference to the inhabitants of a Samaritan village when they did not welcome Him because He was heading for Jerusalem. It says that Jesus rebuked James and John.
So David handles injustice by refusing to risk harm to the Lord’s name in order to protect his own interests, to get angry with God for discipline he deserves, and to accept counsel that appeals to ungodly instincts.
Third, and finally this morning I would like for us to see that . . .
David handles injustice by focusing on …
… the justice of God. (15:25-26) Listen again to David’s words in 15:25: “If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.” There is an implicit faith in God’s justice evident there–one that would stand all of us in good stead. We need to realize that though people will treat us unfairly, but God will never do so, at least long-term.
Frankly, I think this is one of the strongest arguments for the existence of heaven and hell. Every one of us knows there is a tremendous amount of injustice in this life. If this life were all there is, you could never convince me that a good and loving God were behind it all. But the Scriptures make it crystal clear that this life is NOT all that there is–that there will come a day of reckoning when the righteous will be rewarded, and the wicked will be punished.
But even in this life God will often bring justice to His children if they will wait on Him. There are some amazing examples of this in Scripture–like Joseph’s vindication decades after his brothers sold him into slavery. A second attribute of God that David focuses on is …
… the sovereignty of God. (Psalm 37:1-13) David opens Psalm 37 by counseling, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong, for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.”
Then in verse 7 of the Psalm he says,
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret–it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace. The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.”
Finally, David focuses on …
… the goodness of God. (16:12) In the story of Shimei David says, “It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.” David knew that God was not limited by circumstances in His ability to bring good into David’s life. He perhaps was familiar with Gen. 50:20, where Joseph shared excellent theology with his brothers who years earlier had sold him into slavery: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
Conclusion: Injustice is a fact of life. Even betrayal by a close friend is an experience nearly every one of us will face. Sometimes these trials come as discipline from the Lord. At other times they will be completely undeserved. Whichever the case may be, we have the choice of handling it in one of three ways:
1. With anger, retaliation, and violence
2. Or with pity, depression, and withdrawal
3. Or we can give it to the One who judges justly, always!
In his first epistle Peter urges us to bear up under suffering even if we have done nothing to deserve it, using the example of Christ. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:23)
Today we gather at the Lord’s table to remember the most incredible example of injustice the world has ever known. The only perfectly righteous man ever was beaten, stabbed, and crucified on a cross, and though he could easily have called ten thousand angels to defeat His enemies and rescue Him, He refused, because He knew that His suffering and death would lead to our salvation.
Jesus died that we might live. He died to pay the penalty for our sin. When we receive Him as our personal Savior, He gives us eternal life, life that is full and free and fulfilling. And as He “entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly,” so we are urged to “follow in His steps,” and let God be God.
DATE: May 1, 2005
Tags:
Injustice
Betrayal
Sovereignty of God
Justice of God
Goodness of God