“Glory to the Precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Psalms 143: 10

Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

Our soul, the bride, the church should never be like the mule.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the portion of the Bible that we meditated upon in the past days, we meditated that we, the bride, the church each one of us should be built as a spiritual house.

Next what we are meditating upon is that

2 Samuel 18: 1 - 10

And David numbered the people who were with him and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 

Then David sent out one third of the people under the hand of Joab, one third under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I also will surely go out with you myself.”

But the people answered, “You shall not go out! For if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city.”

Then the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. 

Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains orders concerning Absalom.

So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the woods of Ephraim. 

The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day. 

For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on. 

Now a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, “I just saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!”

In the above-mentioned verses, David numbered the people who were with him and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. Then David sent out one third of the people under the hand of Joab, one third under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I also will surely go out with you myself.” But the people answered, “You shall not go out! For if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city.” Then the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. Now the king had commanded Joab, Abishai, and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains orders concerning Absalom. So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the woods of Ephraim. The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day. For the battle there was scattered over the face of the whole countryside, and the woods devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on. Now a certain man saw it and told Joab, and said, “I just saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth tree!”

My dear people, when we look at the above-mentioned verses, we as a church should be built as a spiritual house and worship God and stand against the enemy and fight and when we glorify God the enemy is being defeated. Then we can be watchful and rise up and shine for God. Not only that but David divided and gave the church to three people who were in the experience of one truth who stood with him and sent them to war and after that what the people desired, according to that he is standing beside the gate, and we can see that. That is, the gate shows the fellowship with the Father. Also, when the church is growing with believers, those who are elders should do the work of the Lord in freedom so that the church should grow they should wholeheartedly give it to them. But when we see, many among us do not give it in this manner but they keep everyone under their bondage and want to receive great glory and income. In such places as days go by it will cause great pain. But they do not think regarding that and will say its some kind of tribulation. When such things come we must know that it is coming from the Lord. Also, Absalom though he troubled David greatly, David is telling deal gently for my sake with my son Absalom for all the people to hear he ordered the captains. When we look at this, what this is showing as a pattern is that though we cause great pain to our Lord Jesus Christ by our words, the Lord is leading us slowly and he will not desire to destroy us quickly and we must understand that. But we with great injustice against the Lord, like Absalom if we will go against him purposely the great wrath of God will work against us. Also, we must never like the mule.

Regarding this in

Psalms 32: 9

Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.

Just like how Absalom, who rode on the mule was taken by that mule under the path of the thick boughs we must be careful that our soul does not go in the wrong path and in our spiritual life every day we should be taught to walk in the path of truth according to the will of God. Also, those who supported Absalom and were against David were destroyed. Therefore, we must learn to walk in the ways of the good people and let us submit ourselves to walk with them in the path of God.

Let us pray. May the Lord bless you all abundantly. 

       - To be continued