2 Samuel Reviewr continued

We learned of David mourning the death of Abner, even though he had once been David's enemy.  I believe Abner was honestly doing what he believed to be the right thing to do when he set Ishbosheth up as king, but it still wasn't God's will.  Sometimes,  Christians will oppose each other both thinking they are doing what God wants, though only one can be right.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't mourn them when they die, especially if we have been reconciled.  Then, we have the record of the death of Ishbosheth and the death of the two who killed him, who came to David expecting him to be pleased by their killing Ishbosheth.  I believe that they were looking for self-glory, but were killed instead.  David was always reluctant to act against his own people.  We should never take action against others seeking self-glory, and we certainly should not do so without making sure it is God's will that we do so.  After this all the people of Israel came to David and made him king.  David was thirty at the time, and several years had passed from the time Samuel under God's guidance had anointed him king.  Sometimes, it may take a while for us to fulfill the role that God has called us to.  The Philistines were still at war with Israel and David and his forces were still consistently defeating them.  We as Christians are always going to be at war with the world, but through faith in God we should be consistently defeating them at least spiritually.  David recovered the Ark of the Covenant, but didn't really want to have anything to do with it personally. He left it with Obededom for three months and God blessed Obededom.  When we take care of the things of God, He will bless us at least spiritually.   When David did have the Ark returned to Jerusalem, he danced in joy and was ridiculed by Michal.  We should never ridicule others for joyously celebrating in the Lord.  Because of her actions, Michal had no children.  Actions bring consequences in this lifetime, even if we are followers of Christ.  When David inquired of God about building Him a house, he was told that one of his descendants would do it, and that God had established the house off David to rule forever, and this promise was fulfilled through Jesus Christ, a descendant of David.  David continued to fight with and defeat the Philistines, just as we will never destroy all of the enemies of God today and will always be at war with them.  David also asked if any of Saul's descendants were alive, so that he might honor Jonathan by taking care of them, and only lame Mephibosheth remained, so David honored him by giving him his own land and having him eat at David’s own table.  We might have expected David to kill all of Saul's descendants since they could make a claim to the throne, but he was looking to honor them instead because of his relationship with Jonathan. Since we are all followers of Christ as Christians, we should never seek the destruction of other Christians, even if we are having problems with them.  David was not just at war with the Philistines, but with other countries as well,some of which he had attempted be nice to.  We can expect to have more than one enemy today as followers of Christ.  We are told of David's relationship with Bathsheba and his treachery in having Uriah her husband killed after she became pregnant when Uriah could not have been the father and David was unable to get him to place himself in a position where he could have been.  What began with a lustful look ended with a treacherous murder.  What starts as a small sin may often end with even greater sins.