Sometimes those closest to you cause you the most pain. - Day 2

“Lord, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As you may already know, King David had many wives, therefore having children from many different women (remember, this was a different day and time; and, what we read in the Bible is not necessarily prescriptive, but descriptive, as is the case here). Among his children was a beautiful young woman named Tamar. Now, Tamar’s half-brother (having a different mother), Ammon, fell in love with her and wanted to be with her. So, on the advice of a “friend,” Amnon contrived a scheme. Pretending to be very ill, he asked his father, King David, to send Tamar to feed him. So, David asked Tamar to go care for her brother, which she did. At this point, Amnon completed his scheme by raping his half-sister, Tamar. As soon as he had done the terrible deed, his heart turned against her. He then put her out in shame, rather than taking her as his wife, which would have saved her reputation (again, recognize that this was another day and time when women bore the shame/guilt for being sexually assaulted). Tamar, heartbroken and “ruined,” went and lived in the home of her beloved brother, Absalom. David, upon hearing about the assault against Tamar, was greatly angered; but it seems that he did nothing to avenge Tamar.

Now, Absalom was an extraordinarily handsome man and a great warrior. He held in his heart the great injustice that have been done against Tamar, by Amnon. After two years passed, he decided to exact his revenge. Now, he knew he could not directly strike out against his brother. So, he devised a scheme of his own to get Amnon where he would be vulnerable. Absalom threw a party for all of David’s sons and at that party he had his servants kill Amnon in the sight of the others.

Making a long story short, after having fled from King David, Absalom was eventually allowed to return to Jerusalem where he began to undermine David’s power to the point of turning the peoples’ hearts toward him, forcing David to flee the kingdom.

“Now a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.” So David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”” ‭‭II Samuel‬ ‭15:13-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Our opening scripture today comes from Psalms 3. It was written by David when he was on the run from his own son, Absalom.

If you have lived any time at all, you have found out (the hard way) that it is often the people closest to you who cause you the most pain. Never was that fact more true than in the life of King David.

Our Lord Jesus Christ also knew the sting of being betrayed by someone very close to Him.

“And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭22:47-48‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Not only that, but His own people, in general, rejected Him.

“He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” ‭‭John‬ ‭1:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Sadly, rejection—even betrayal—are facts of life, often coming at the hands of those whom we have loved, helped, and trusted. The good news is that the Lord will not forsake us and He will always keep us. We will discuss that matter further in the next couple of days as we continue to consider Psalms 3.

For today, let us understand and know what David knew:

Sometimes, those closest to you, cause you the most pain. #100dayswithdavid