As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what is promised us – eternal life. 1 John 2:24.

Reading 2 Samuel 16 reminds me of today. Intrigue. Lying. Cursing others. Disrespect. The opposite of life with God leading us in His truth and love. It’s getting harder to discern what is truth in this worlds version of “truth”.

We again meet Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, in the very beginning of this chapter. He has brought donkeys and provisions for David and his men. He has also told David that Mephibosheth stayed behind in Jerusalem because he thinks his grandfather Saul’s kingdom will be restored to him. In the notes below it directed me to 19:24-30 and the loyalty Mephibosheth showed to David. David believed Ziba. I would have also. Isn’t that the problem we all face? Who and what do we believe when deception is everywhere and events are unfolding quickly?

And then we come to Shimei, a Benjamite from the family of the clan of Saul. He is angry with David because he is now king instead of Saul who has died. He is throwing stones and showering David and his men with dirt. David’s men want to cut off his head and David refuses. This man is cursing David and what does David say to his men? “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.” v. 5-12.

And now Absalom, son of David, is in Jerusalem and his advisor is telling him to sleep with David’s concubines. In the notes for 3:6-7 it explained: To sleep with any of the king’s wives or concubines was to make a claim to the throne, and it was considered treason. In 12:11-12 Nathan the prophet had prophesied this very thing to David because of his sin of killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba as his wife.

Who do we believe today? Do you remember playing a game with a roomful of kids and one child starts a sentence in a whisper and that whisper is picked up around the room? Finally the last child says aloud what was whispered in their ear and it is nothing like the original whispered statement. Everyone laughs but the point is made. And now we have “progressed” to AI, artificial intelligence, “whispering” words from others they may never have said.

David believed Ziba. He allowed the cursing of Shimei. He learned the painful lesson that he couldn’t trust his own heart to lead him when he sinned with Bathsheba and killed an innocent man. I don’t know David’s heart. I know what was written. David didn’t know Mephiboseth’s heart but he believed what Ziba said. Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2. Before He said that, He said You have heard that it was said …Matthew 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43.

Jesus also said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” John 14:6.

That is the truth I hold onto. There will be intrigue just as in David’s time. It doesn’t matter. I keep my eyes on my Lord and Savior who knows and teaches only Truth. He will never lie to you.

God’s way is the way of peace in Him even in the midst of intrigues we cannot discern. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. How did He overcome the world? Not by lying. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16. No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. John 3:13-15.

You have heard it said…