The Doxology, and Psalms 31:1-3

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, contemplating a thought: He deviseth means by which his banished are not expelled from Him (2 Samuel 14:14). He laid me down in 2 Samuel 14-18. The verse that drew me into communion with the Holy Ghost was 2 Samuel 14:14:

2Samuel 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

To summarize the backstory: Absalom was banished from the kingdom after he killed his half-brother, Amnon, in revenge for Amnon’s theft of his sister Tamar’s virtue (2 Samuel 13). Joab saw that his uncle, King David, grieved for Absalom, his son, and hired a wise woman from Tekoa to provoke him into making a judgment that would shame him into restoring his son to the kingdom (2 Samuel 14:1-20). This lady reveals something about GOD that humbles me deeply: although we are but men that die, like water spilt on the ground, and although God has no respect of any person, nevertheless, “doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.” She spoke of the king and his banished son, Absalom, but presented her case in the context of what David knew was true of GOD: He deviseth means to redeem Adam’s banished race.

The banishment of Absalom arose from David’s unwillingness to lift his hand against his sons: Amnon was not judged for raping his half-sister, a penalty that would require death (Deuteronomy 22:25). Honor killing is not prescribed by the Law; Absalom would be found guilty of murder for killing his half-brother: he too would face the death penalty (Genesis 9:6). David was horrified that his son had killed his brother, but would not execute the law on his own son and banished him instead. In collusion with Joab, the wise woman of Tekoa contrived a case before David, leading him to render a legal judgment that established a basis for Absalom’s return from exile.

Along the still waters, I thought of how GOD contrived means by which to redeem Adam’s fallen race. Romans 5:8-9, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” Consider the “means” by which He contrived to redeem His banished! The death of His own Son.

But my thoughts turned in another direction: God could have snapped His fingers, or with even less effort, spoken a word, and the sin of Adam would be erased, and his banished invited to return to Eden. I know that, in truth, this would be a lie, and that is something God cannot do (Titus 1:2). Yet, surely, God could have contrived some other means by which He could recover His banished. But every scenario I could conceive failed: for God, Who cannot lie, declared the wages of sin is death—eternal banishment from GOD.

I pondered the question, Why did God bother to devise means to restore His banished. The woman of Tekoa spoke the truth: “For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person.” What is man that GOD is “mindful of him” (Psalm 8:4; 144:3). Like David restored his banished to his kingdom, God removed the barriers barring man from His (1 John 2:1-2), and yet those He emancipated from sin rage against Him with hatred and vainly desire to kill Him, and take His kingdom by force and violence (Psalm 2:1-12; Matthew 11:12). I thought of the Spirit appeal to our conscience: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8). And I remembered the words of the wise woman of Tekoa: “Yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.” We are all sinners, and death is the penalty, and “we must needs die … yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him” (2 Samuel 14:14).

To save His banished, He would not turn to magic, but rather devised means by which He could justly set aside our sins and deliver us from eternal banishment, separated from him in this life, to finally be expelled into Hell’s fires for eternity. He used means, not magic.

I thought about that for a while. Consider all God’s works in the earth, and you will see He deviseth means to accomplish every purpose. In magic, God’s laws are violated to achieve an end. When God devises means, He works within the boundaries of the Law. All natural processes operate within His law. When He works a miracle, I think He does so within the laws of nature, only we don’t know those laws, so it looks like magic to us.

Many believers want God to work magic tricks. They do not understand that God deviseth means to accomplish His work, and so must we.

In the valley, I knelt in the shadow of God’s means of redemption: the Cross. I thought more about how GOD, whose power and wisdom are infinite, restrained Himself to work within means, and did not resort to magic. Accomplishment through means is truth; magic is a lie. In my mind, I pondered the truth about the means by which God contrived to save man, the means by which He declared His love for us. Then He spoke to me the means by which I may serve Him, the means by which I may show my love to Him: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. We went together into the harvest, goodness and mercy following close.

Praying for revival! 🙏

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