I don’t know if you have ever done this but I have read 2 Samuel 3 to 2 Samuel 5 now three times and I have no idea what to write.

End of blog!

I have tried to focus on David and all I seem to read about are Abner and Joab. They seem to be running around like mad men and David is pretty much doing nothing. Maybe that’s it! Just sometimes God calls us to stand still, stop running around, stop trying to fix it.

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. Exodus 14:13

The same is true for David, the kingdom will come to him. The war went on for a long time (3:1). David’s family grew (3:2-5). David’s persistent faith and refusal to give up is beginning to pay off.

so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 6:12

But being honest, I am still struggling to put things down on paper. I am praying, I am looking in the commentaries for a helping hand but at this moment it’s just not working. Ever felt like that?

The silence of God is just awkward because as a pastor you sort of get used to doing stuff. Surely you will give me something to write today Lord. When I was young my mum made me have a spoonful of cod liver oil, she told me it would do me good, but it did not taste good. I do go through seasons when opening God’s word sometimes feels like cod liver oil, and this is one! I laugh, when David whom I am writing about tells me in Psalm 119 that his words are sweeter than honey, so just for a moment if I may I’m going to speak to myself.

David could say he loved God’s law (Psalm 119:97) but he also says he meditates on it all the day. The Hebrew word for “meditation” here refers to an object of “musing, study, or prayer.” In biblical meditation we are filling our minds to think deeply on a verse, a passage, or a theme.

The difference between reading and meditating on it, is the difference between raking the leaves and digging a hole. I have been reading because I must, because I am writing a blog. I need to go back to reading because it’s sweeter than honey, give the Word time, dig some deep holes not because I have to provide a blog or a sermon, I must love God’s law because it’s God’s law not because I have a task to do.

If I stopped for a moment, I might learn that David humbled himself to scripture, by listening and obeying.

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.  Psalm 119:98-99

Wisdom is not just the ability to discern right from wrong, but also the ability to know the best course of action in a given situation. For a king like David, God’s wisdom could protect a nation from its enemies. David does not boast in his wisdom; he knows it was given by God through his “commandment” and because David had listened carefully to God’s Word, it was with him even when he wasn’t reading it. I just need to read to learn, not to do.

I need to learn that reading the Word has nothing to do with making me a clever Christian but helps me to know God.

There is a difference between knowledge that produces obedience, and knowledge that merely produces more knowledge. Many people know facts about God and his Word, yet fail to live out those truths. I  have friends who can quote scriptures better than I do, have studied more biblical history than I have and mastered Greek and Hebrew yet have not overcome their sin, their mind, their emotions and their ways . True biblical knowledge works itself out in obedience. Look….

I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.  Psalm 119:101

I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. Psalm 119:102

Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Psalm 119:104

I mustn’t just let God’s word enter my mind but allow it to change my will, my emotion, my character, my behaviour, my actions.

Well today the word of God was like cod liver oil. Pray with me that we all might find it sweeter than honey and that our love for the author will grow.