Lust Sick

Lust Sick
Words of Faith 2-19-25
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2025
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

2 Samuel 13
[1] In the course of time, Amnon son of David fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom son of David. [2] Amnon became frustrated to the point of illness on account of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her.
[3] Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man. [4] He asked Amnon, "Why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell me?" Amnon said to him, "I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister." [5] "Go to bed and pretend to be ill," Jonadab said. "When your father comes to see you, say to him, 'I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.'" [6] So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, "I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight, so I may eat from her hand."

This is a chapter of family tragedy. Because of his affair with Bathsheba, David had been told by Nathan, the prophet, that the sword would never depart from his house. It may have seemed a puzzling statement, but it was not long before David began to experience the heartbreaks of rape and murder within his own family.
When we mention David, the story of Goliath is familiar to all. The story of David and Bathsheba is known to many. But the story of the incestuous rape and murderous vengeance within David's royal family is not often broached or preached. The story of Amnon, Tamar, and Absalom isn't your basic Sunday school tale.
Absalom, son of David by his wife Maacah, had a beautiful sister named Tamar. Amnon, David's firstborn by Ahinoam, found himself infatuated with this beautiful half-sister. The name Tamar means "palm tree," a phrase used to describe a lovely woman with beautiful form and stature. As a virgin daughter, Tamar was inaccessible to males-- in the strictest sense, even her brothers-- yet Amnon allowed his thoughts to become obsessed with her.
Unable to access Tamar, Amnon sought the counsel of his shrewd cousin Jonadab, and they hatched a plot to gain access to the forbidden half-sister. Amnon would pretend to be ill and then plead with his father to have Tamar bake him bread and bring it to him.
Some translations describe Amnon as lovesick, but we will see later in the story that his "love" for Tamar quickly turned to loathing after he violated her. Such an abrupt change of affection is descriptive of lust rather than love. The lust-sick Amnon spent his time and thoughts obsessing on an object of affection that was forbidden.
Like his father before him, Amnon allowed this focus to overcome any sense of better judgment or respect for the family that might have been in him. Rather than seek spiritual counsel and prayer, Amnon sought the help of his shrewd cousin Jonadab. The crafty Jonadab was the sort who would give advice on how to seduce a woman. He crafted the plan by which Amnon might entrap Tamar to have his way with her.
The sad tragedy is that we see the iniquity of the father, David, visited on this next generation. This "bent" toward the sin of lust was carried into the children of David. Amnon had a choice in all this, and he bears responsibility for his sin, but this tendency toward the sickness of lust was passed on from father to son.
We can give thanks that our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the iniquities of us all. The curse of such sin is broken in Christ's work. We simply need to receive by faith this benefit of His blood sacrifice and walk in that truth by faith. There are often those who see salvation simply as a ticket they get to gain admittance into heaven and fail to understand the wonderful power of the cross to set them free from the iniquities that plague our daily human struggle.
The devotional power of this passage is to realize the difference between love and lust and understand the importance of boundaries that protect us from a path of self-deception. It is also vital that we know and claim the power of the cross in our own lives. The curse of sin is broken. The power of sin and death is overcome. The gift of life is here and available for us.

Father God, thank You for breaking the power of sin through Jesus's work on the cross. Thank You for the power of the resurrection over sin and death. Thank You for the victory that I can claim. Give me wisdom. Help me see the strength found in good boundaries. Help me always know the difference between genuine love and lustful self-deception. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< ><> <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2025
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2025 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.