May 18-23, 2025

Heart Preparation:
As you get into the habit of reading God’s Word daily, it can easily build into just something that you do. It can slip into routine, or obligation even. Take a moment and pray each morning before you read that you would enter into the presence of God, not out of routine or obligation, but out of desire to be in His presence. The Creator of the universe, who holds the universe in the span of His hand, wants to be with you. 


Week’s Reading Plan:

• Sunday,     May 18 – Psalm 26, 40, 58, 61-62, 64
• Monday,     May 19 – 2 Samuel 19-21
• Tuesday, May 20 – Psalm 5, 38, 41-42
• Wednesday, May 21 – 2 Samuel 22-23, Psalm 57
• Thursday, May 22 – Psalm 95, 97-99
• Friday, May 23 – 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21-22, Psalm 30
• Saturday, May 24 – Psalm 108-110

What to Expect:
Last week we ended with the death of Absalom, David’s son who rebelled against him. This week, David continues to mourn the death of his son. This caused the people of Israel to feel that David cared more about his son’s life than all of Israel together. Joab is aware of this, and speaks into David’s life, causing David to return to Jerusalem and lead his people. Later on in David’s reign, he takes a census of his army, against the counsel of Joab, which results in the judgement of God. David is faced with his punishment, in which he chooses to be judged by the hand of God, and 70,000 people die. David purchases a plot of land to build an altar, stopping the plague against the people of Israel. It is on this plot of land that the Temple is going to built, and even though David is not allowed to build the temple, he provides all the provisions for the building of the Temple. 


Things to Look For:
When you read the account of David taking the census in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21, notice the location of the threshing floor. Though just reading “the threshing floor of Araunah” may not stand out to any of us, there are some other passages that provide the context for this location. 

• 2 Chronicles 3:1 :: Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan (Araunah in 2 Samuel) the Jebusite. 
  
• Genesis 22:2 :: [God] said [to Abraham], “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
• Genesis 22:8 :: Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” 
  
• Genesis 22:14 :: So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will Provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” 

The same place that Abraham went to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God, is the same place that David offered a burnt offering to the Lord to stop the plague of God against the people because of sin, which is the same place where the Temple is built (where offerings are made and sacrifices to God to cleanse people from their sin), which is the same place where, when Christ (the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world) was crucified for us, the veil was torn in two from top to the bottom in the Temple (on the Mount Moriah), which separated man from God. 

• God provided the ram in the place of Isaac 
• David offered a sacrifice to stop the death of people because of sin 
• God prepared the sacrificial system to “atone for” (cover up) the sins of the people in the Temple 
• God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish (because their sins are covered over by His blood) but have eternal life. 

Personal Insight: 
Even though I love the way that God works with Mount Moriah through His story, what stood out to me personally was the role of Joab through this weeks reading. Two times he speaks up to David, the first when David is mourning Absalom, and the second when David is thinking about taking the census. Both times, Joab speaks wisdom into David’s life. Both times, Joab has the confidence to speak up, even when it goes against what David is feeling. Which leads me to wonder, am I like Joab? Do I have the confidence to speak wisdom into someone’s life when I see that they are not on the right path? And also, do I have a Joab in my life? Someone that I have trust in and proximity to, that they will speak truth in my life, even if it is difficult to hear? 


Galatians 6:1 :: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. 


Prayer:
God, thank you for providing the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ, to cover over my sins. Thank you for taking away my sins and for giving me His righteousness. Help me to be bold for the truth of Your gospel, which is right. Thank you for that truth. 


This weeks devotion was prepared by Andrew Peterman