Reaping and Sowing

Reaping and Sowing
Words of Faith 2-20-25
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2025
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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2 Samuel 13:6-14
[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." [7] David sent word to Tamar at the palace: "Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him." [8] So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it. [9] Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat. "Send everyone out of here," Amnon said. So everyone left him. [10] Then Amnon said to Tamar, "Bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand." And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon in his bedroom. [11] But when she took it to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, "Come to bed with me, my sister." [12] "Don't, my brother!" she said to him. "Don't force me. Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don't do this wicked thing. [13] What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you." [14] But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.
 
    Amnon set into motion the plan he concocted with the help of Jonadab. Burning with lust for his beautiful half-sister, he moved step by step through the plan. Amnon probably had deluded himself into the idea that if he could get Tamar alone, she would surely be carried away with his same amorous desires. He was wrong.
    David, the father of these two, actually participated, albeit unknowingly, in setting up the tragedy that was about to occur. The only thing worse than learning such a thing has happened in the family would be the realization that he actually helped facilitate it.
    When Amnon made his lustful intentions known to Tamar it is clear that she tried in every way to resist his advances. She tried to reason with Amnon regarding the disgrace that would come on them both. She even made a plea that if a proper request for marriage were made, it would be granted. While this was not necessarily true or even her desire because of the Law forbidding such a thing, it is clear that Tamar made every effort to escape this increasingly dangerous situation.
     In the end, Amnon was physically stronger than Tamar, and he raped her. It should be observed that Tamar was actually, by far, the stronger person. She did everything she could to resist the attack. She trusted the situation and the family invitation to be of help. When that turned bad, she made every effort to escape.
     Amnon was the weak one. He gave in to carnal lust. But this was not just a sudden impulse. Amnon had dwelled upon his lustful fantasies and refused to seek spiritual counsel. He nurtured forbidden desires. In fact, he sought the wicked counsel of a crafty friend and plotted a seduction. When the seduction didn't work, the lust he had nurtured boiled over. He cast aside any thought regarding the honor of family and forced a violent sexual assault upon Tamar.
    Modern experts will often classify different types of rape in terms of the motivation. This was a case of carnal lust gone rampant. We don't know, but it seems unlikely that Amnon set out to be a family rapist. He got to this place of sin in much the same way that his father, David, took the steps on a slippery slope that led to adultery and murder.
    There is a lesson here. One might think: I would never find myself in such a place. The reality is that such horrible sins simmer for an extended period before they are acted upon. Ralph Waldo Emerson made the oft-quoted observation: Sow a thought, and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
    The Apostle Paul put it even more directly: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit, will reap eternal life (Gal 6:7-8).
     How can this process be stopped? The Apostle also exhorted us in his letter to the church at Rome:  Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will (12:1-2).
 
    Father God, give me wisdom. Protect me from the choices that appear to be only small in compromise but actually lead to destruction. Give me the grace and strength to resist the thoughts that start the process of sin. Renew my mind by the power of Your Spirit and the strength of Your Word. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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© 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
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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.