Curses, Stones and Dust

Well, I don't know too much yet, but I understand the surgery went well and that the doctors were pleased.  My sister is in pain though, so I hope the doctors and nurses managed to keep that under control.  For any who prayed, thank you!  Don't stop!

Yesterday I wrote about the attack on David.  I reflected all day on the particular attack.  I realized we often go through attacks like that.  Satan gets personal.  David had fled from Jerusalem because Absalom was conspiring to take over his kingdom.  David was already under tremendous stress and, no doubt, discouraged.  When he got to Bahurim, "There came out a man of the family of the house of Saul...and as he came he cursed continually."  Poor David, wasn't he already under attack, why more?  It got worse before it got better though.  "And he threw stones at David and all the servants of the King David..." (2 Sam. 16:6)  Not only did he get cursing, but stones as well!  Nice!

The actual words in his cursing cut deep, "Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man!"  David was a man of blood, but God had been with him in all that fighting.  Of course an enemy would turn that on him. Calling him a worthless man?  Can there be any insult more personal than that?  It also says, "he cursed continually".  Sometimes the enemy's attacks are relentless, or at least that's how it seems.

RM is our king.  Our family, our farm, his kingdom.  Lately there has been a lack of work.  Many repairs needed around the house and farm.  Discouragement with a project he's been working on. Broken machines.  Then, on top of it all, a wife who once in a while questions him, which can make him feel like "a worthless man".  Add it all up and he finds himself listening to the voice on his shoulder from the enemy saying it, too, "You are a worthless man."  A cloud can settle in over his head and the battle for his kingdom takes place between his ears.

It was so good to read about this attack in the Bible.  It was real.  It must have hurt.  Yet David didn't give in.  He didn't succumb.  He didn't even fight back, though his men wanted him to.  Yet, he didn't pretend this man didn't exist.  He acknowledged he was there.  His way of dealing with him was recognizing the Lord's role, "It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today." (16:12)  In a way, I feel like he was admitting, "I don't know why this is happening, but I'm going to trust God for how this might bring good into my life some day."

Amazingly, they went on "while Shemei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust."  What would that have been like?  It's hard to imagine that the whole time he was walking, the other guy walked opposite him, cursing, throwing stones and flinging dust!  Yikes!  Yet that is often our experience.  We decide to ignore the voice in our head that tells us we are "worthless" yet that doesn't make the attack go away.  Satan keeps walking opposite us, cursing us, throwing stones and flinging dust....at least that is how it feels.  We are told in James that if we resist the devil, he'll flee from us, and he does, but sometimes he comes right back.

I think this passage of Scripture was incredibly helpful.  It was good to read that there is an enemy out there.  It was good to see that David didn't pretend he didn't exist.  In a way he did resist him, but in God's strength.  He recognized it would have been a waste of time to fight the man, especially if God was using this attack in his life in some way.  And then, it was good to read that sometimes, even when you do everything right, the enemy follows, relentlessly attacking, determining to try to ruin you or at the very least bug you with curses, stones and even dust.  What an insult...dust.

RM needed to hear this passage as sometimes we think it's just us.  Sometimes we fall into the enemy's trap.  RM will hear the words, "You are a worthless man" and he'll believe it.

My job is to recognize that the attack is going on and to be one of his "mighty men".  I'll gather the kids and they also become his mighty men "on his right hand and on his left". (2 Sam.16:6)  We'll surround him in prayer trying to protect him from the enemy's curses, stones and dust.  David arrived "weary at the Jordan".  But "there he refreshed himself."  Can I be the one who refreshes him?  I need to be.  I appreciate the fact the Bible includes real life stories where even kings get discouraged and weary.  My king gets discouraged, too.