Lost Loyalty

Reading of the Day: 2 Samuel 10-12

2 Samuel 10:3: And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?

There are 2 occasions in these chapters where loyalty is lost. This can be a difficult thing to handle, because lost loyalty means broken trust & a feeling of true betrayal. In this first occasion in the above Scripture, David was going to send comforters to a neighboring kingdom because the father passed away. This innocent, kind gesture was analyzed & ridiculed by those in the neighboring kingdom of Ammon because they thought David sent messengers just to spy out the land & overthrow it. So, the servants in Ammon embarrassed the messengers of David & sent them back. This was so hurtful that war broke out between Israel & Ammon, and a few other kingdoms got involved as well. All this would have been avoided if respect & loyalty were reciprocated! David was good friends with the father & king in Ammon, so it only made sense to send his respects to his son & the people of Ammon. Unfortunately, loyalty was lost...the next example sadly comes from David himself. He not only loses loyalty with a man named Uriah, but he loses his loyalty to God, if only for a time. David goes to be with a woman named Bathsheba...and she happens to be Uriah's wife! She ends up being pregnant, and so David pulls Uriah out of the group of soldiers who were loyal & committed to fighting in battle. David tells him to go to his house, hoping that he will eventually think Bathsheba became pregnant by Uriah, and none of this would have ever happened...but Uriah showed so much loyalty to David, that he did not want to leave his side & the other soldiers who were committed to the cause! Sadly, this caused David to have him killed in battle-and the letter which was sent to set up Uriah was unknowingly delivered by Uriah himself! This causes Nathan the prophet to go to David to make him realize the severity of his actions, and David does repent & feel deeply sorry about it...and he understands he lost loyalty between himself, Uriah, the people of Israel and most importantly, The Lord. God spares David & forgives him, but the child ends up passing away. Thankfully, God blesses David & Bathsheba with another son named Solomon, and Solomon would end up being future king of Israel. It is so good to know that through repentance, lost loyalty can be restored! Although it seems as though David should have looked back at the countless times in his past that he was betrayed & wrongly accused so that he did not make the same mistake, it just goes to show that if we are not careful, any of us can do something to break the bond of loyalty. We must work to stay loyal, stay faithful, and live a life of repentance to restore any broken relationships! And even though it may not be reciprocated, as long as we purpose to do what's right in God's eyes, He will help us to keep moving forward, free & forgiven.