BiG Idea: It’s
2 Samuel 16:15–19
15 Now Absalom and all the Israelites came to Jerusalem. Ahithophel was also with him. 16 When David’s friend Hushai the Archite came to Absalom, Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!” 17 “Is this your loyalty to your friend?” Absalom asked Hushai. “Why didn’t you go with your friend?” 18 “Not at all,” Hushai answered Absalom. “I am on the side of the one that the LORD, this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen. I will stay with him. 19 Furthermore, whom will I serve if not his son? As I served in your father’s presence, I will also serve in yours.”
2 Samuel 16:20
20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give me your advice. What should we do?”
2 Samuel 16:21
21 Ahithophel replied to Absalom, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become repulsive to your father, everyone with you will be encouraged.”
2 Samuel 16:23
23 Now the advice Ahithophel gave in those days was like someone asking about a word from God—such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice.
2 Samuel 17:1–4
17 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out in pursuit of David tonight. 2 I will attack him while he is weary and discouraged, throw him into a panic, and all the people with him will scatter. I will strike down only the king 3 and bring all the people back to you. When everyone returns except the man you’re looking for, all the people will be at peace.” 4 This proposal seemed right to Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
2 Samuel 17:5–8
5 Then Absalom said, “Summon Hushai the Archite also. Let’s hear what he has to say as well.” 6 So Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom told him, “Ahithophel offered this proposal. Should we carry out his proposal? If not, what do you say?” 7 Hushai replied to Absalom, “The advice Ahithophel has given this time is not good.” 8 Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men. They are warriors and are desperate like a wild bear robbed of her cubs. Your father is an experienced soldier who won’t spend the night with the people.
2 Samuel 17:14
14 Since the LORD had decreed that Ahithophel’s good advice be undermined in order to bring about Absalom’s ruin, Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s advice.”
2 Samuel 15:31
31 Then someone reported to David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” “LORD,” David pleaded, “please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
1 John 5:14–15
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.
I can trust God when I
2 Samuel 17:27–29
27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought beds, basins, and pottery items. They also brought wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils, 29 honey, curds, sheep, goats, and cheese from the herd for David and the people with him to eat. They had reasoned, “The people must be hungry, exhausted, and thirsty in the wilderness.”
God wants to
2 Corinthians 12:8–10
8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 10 So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
BiG Question: What keeps me from being
Psalm 3:1–8
This Week I Will…
Pursue Jesus by:
Point to Jesus by:
Memorize: 2 Corinthians 12:9
Next Week: 2 Samuel 18 & 19