Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please, let me go over and take off his head!
But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the LORD has said to him, “Curse David.’ Who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?'”     2 Samuel 16:9-10 NKJV

I realize that standing alone this Scripture may not make much sense, so let’s look at what’s going on here. For starters, let me give you a little background on King David. The LORD had anointed him to be king of Israel. In 1 Samuel 16, young David who was just a teenager at the time was anointed to be King Saul’s successor. In 1 Samuel 13:14, God described David as a man after God’s own heart. David would go on to kill Goliath while he was still just a young boy. He would become Saul’s musician to calm him during times of madness and would eventually become a valued member of Saul’s army and Saul’s son-in-law.

Saul had a love/hate relationship with David and for many years tried to kill him. David fled into the wilderness and passed up two perfect opportunities to kill Saul. He refused to do so because Saul was the Lord’s first anointed king of Israel. He left it up to God as to when Saul would die and he would become king. He would endure years of torment with Saul chasing after him trying to kill him.

David was a mighty warrior. He fought and killed many of Israelites enemies, the Philistines. After years of enduring Saul’s torment and running from him. Saul died in battle and David became king. God had blessed David with being king of Israel and all the riches that came along with the position (2 Samuel 12:8).

And then David fell into sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba. When he found out Bathsheba was pregnant as a result of their sin, he tried to bring her soldier husband home to sleep with her to cover their sin. When that failed, he had her husband killed in battle.

As a result of his sin, the Lord had told David that there would be adversity in his home. He told him the sword would never leave his household. And this was what was going on now. David’s son Amnon raped his daughter Tamar. His son Absalom killed Amnon to avenge Tamar. And now Absolom was attempting to kill David in order to take the throne from him.

David left the city of Jerusalem to protect its residents from bloodshed. And in 2 Samuel 15:17 it describes a sorrowful procession as David, his servants, and 600 men leave Jerusalem. There is mourning and weeping by David and his men. Our Scripture passage for today describes David being cursed by one of the residents.

David knows that his sin has caused all this and there is nothing he can do about it other than trust in the Lord to get him through this. The Lord had made a covenant with David that his throne would be eternal. In other words, there would always be someone from David’s lineage on the throne of Israel. Now, of course, Jesus Christ was born from the line of David, fulfilling God’s covenant.

David knew that God would take care of him, but he has seen all the devastation his sin has brought on his household. There’s an old saying that say, “Sin will take you where you didn’t want to go. Keep you longer than you wanted to stay. And cost you more than you wanted to pay.” David’s lust for another man’s wife led to a lifetime of heartache for him and his family.

Our sin does not go unpunished, even for a great warrior like David who had once been referred to as a man after God’s own heart. David did not lose his salvation, but he lost his peace and joy.

Please know that our sin has a hefty price to pay and please understand that God provides a way out of temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13).

If you are facing the temptation to sin, stop and pray. Ask God to show you a way out. You might not want to spend the rest of your life living through the consequences.

Have a great day!