Drafts We Shouldn’t Send

Some messages feel good to write and dangerous to send. Today we’re sitting in one of the hardest chapters in the life of David: 2 Samuel 13, where lust pretends to be love, leadership goes silent, and revenge waits patiently for the right moment. It’s heavy Scripture, but it’s also a clear warning about what happens when sin is hidden, excused, or left unaddressed until it explodes. 

My prayer is that you leave with practical Christian encouragement to repent quickly, confront sin with courage, release old grudges, and break generational cycles in your family. If this helped you, subscribe for weekly devotionals, share it with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more hearts can find these messages.

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Transcript

Welcome And Devotional Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, hello. You're listening to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Heart Podcast episode 101. This week's devotional is titled Drafts We Shouldn't Send. Lust, Complacency, and Revenge. Study of David. Let's go. Hi, I'm Jesse Morgan. I used to just share home decor and renovation tips on social media, but now I'm sharing something even closer to my heart. My journey in love for Jesus Christ, my savior. Welcome to the Jesse Morgan Devotions for the Christian Hawk Podcast. This is a weekly devotional I started back in May 2024, but the inspiration for it came much earlier. It was rooted in a faith journey that began when my daughter was born four months early in 2023. Through that challenging time, God worked in ways that truly amazed me. On this podcast, I share personal stories of faith woven together with Scripture to show just how incredible God's word can be in our everyday lives. My hope is that through these stories, you'll be encouraged, uplifted, and reminded of God's love and presence, no matter what you're going through. So I invite you to spend less than 15 minutes with me each week as we reflect on these devotionals together. Let's all pray within. Drafts We shouldn't send. Key passage, 2 Samuel 13. Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Um, I told you the next couple of weeks are gonna be rough. We are in 2 Samuel chapter 13 of the life of David, and this is heavy stuff this week. But as Christians, we have to talk about this because we make mistakes, we sin, sometimes we try to hide it, we manipulate, and then it all c and then it comes out in the end in the worst way possible. And we need to repent and move forward because that's what God wants us to do. In this chapter, it's the start of consequences. The prophet Nate the prophet Nathan had warned David about after the whole Bathsheba situation. And if you want, you can go back to those the last two podcast episodes that really focus in on that. And so, anyways, God told, you know, David through Nathan that the sword wouldn't leave his house. And this is exactly where that starts in this week's episode. We really gonna focus in on. I hope this motivates you to repent quickly when you make a mistake, instead of digging a deeper hole like David did. So we're gonna really break this into like three parts. So part one, uh that the mini title is When Lust Masquerades as Love. So in part one, or in the first part of chapter 13, it's all about lust. David's oldest son, Amnon, is the heir to the throne. He has this weird, weird obsession in the chapters with his half-sister, Tamar. He claims he's in love, but we know better. He's obsessed to the point of making himself sick. He gets a wise he gets a wise friend, who really isn't a friend at all, to help him cook up this lie. He fakes being sick to get Tamar alone and to take care of him. It's such a sad scene. She actually pleads with him. She tells him it's wrong, and to just ask the king for her hand, but he ignores her and forces himself on her. As soon as he gets what he wants, the Bible says he hated her with a very great hatred, and he throws her out like trash. And you know, just thinking about that story, it takes me back to just kind of a lighter example from my own personal life, but it does resemble kind of what this was all about. So let me get to that. I remember I was 22 years old, and I was at the Cheesecake Factory in Daydeland eating, and this cute busboy drops his number. We talked on the phone a few times, and the first night we met up, it was about five days after talking, like you know, initially meeting, and he says to me, I love you.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

I'm so in love with you. I want you, I want you to be with me forever.

A Personal Story About False Love

David’s Silence And Failed Leadership

Absalom’s Revenge And The Fallout

The Recommendation Letter Draft

My Dad Refuses Revenge

SPEAKER_01 4:13

And I never talked to him again. I blocked the number, I blocked it out. I don't it's I I just couldn't go there because that's not love, that's an obsession. Love is patient and kind, it doesn't push its way through in a day or two. People need to be careful because you think it's love, but it's actually impulsive lust that leads to possible hatred, just like we see with Amnon. So now part two of this chapter, I'm labeling this section the silence, or aka the failure of leadership. So part two is about the complacency within chapter 13. Um David finds out what happens with Tamar and Amnon, and he's angry, it says in scripture, but it also documents that nothing happened from that anger. So he takes no action, he doesn't discipline his son. And I wonder if David was thinking, you know, this is just me uh thinking out loud. Um he probably said to himself, possibly, how can I discipline my son for lust when I did the same thing with Bathsheba? We often use our previous sins as an excuse to not address the present sin. But we have to do better. If you've asked God for forgiveness, let go of the guilt, and find the courage to save someone else for making your mistake in the future. David's silence just allowed the bitterness to grow later on for his other son, Absalon. And so part three, I'm labeling this the danger of taking revenge. This is where the story gets interesting. This last part is about revenge. Absalon, who is Tamar's full brother, sees that his father David did nothing to his first son, Amnon. So Absalon festers this anger for two years and he calculates, and he eventually throws this feast and has his men and his brothers come. And in the midst of this feast going on, he has his men kill Amnon. Now David has lost two sons now, one is dead, and one has fled into exile. And this whole two years he held on to this. He too he held on to this this anger to his first brother for how he treated his sister Tamar for two years. And he watched his father for two years not do anything about it. He Absalon was angry at his brother and angry at his dad as well, clearly. And it's just sad when you have complacency and silence and what that could do and how that turns into revenge. And so I have a another personal story I kind of wanted to share. I really got two that I it I really hit me when I was doing this podcast, and I think it really relates um in a really, you know, personal way. So hopefully you you know you get something out of this. So here's the first one. I this this story really is about a recommendation letter. And like I said before, I think everybody's been angry and let anger fester, and you want a revenge, you want revenge and all that. So I've been there. And um, I remember in high school, there was a girl who was in my grade. I went to, you know, went with was with her in high school, honestly, with her from sixth grade to when we graduated from high school. And this girl hated me. H A T E hated. She hated H-A-T-E-D. She hated me. She was mean and talked behind my back for years. I always stayed clear of her because I just knew she didn't care for me. And so we never got along. She just didn't like me. I really never understood why either, but she just didn't. And I know I wasn't perfect. I just wish I knew exactly what I did because I we honestly, I always wondered why did she hate me so much? What did I do? I always wanted to know, but never knew. So um I graduated in 05. So this was like 10 years later. She has the nerve to walk into the school where my parents worked um and asked for a recommendation letter, like a character reference for her master's program. She asked my mom. Now, I actually was shocked when I found this out because my mom called me and told me, and I actually got on my computer and wrote a horrible review of her character. I was so close to sending it because my mom had asked me to help her write it. Because she's like, hey, Jess, you're a better writer than me. Help me write this. You know, here's the email address. Guys, I'm telling you right now, I wrote that letter and I was about to send it. And I wanted to hurt her so bad for her future. But you know what? My mom talked me out of it. I stopped. And I realized that if I had sent that, I'd be blocking my own blessings in the end. I'm 39 now and I finally let that go. I want her to flourish. I want that girl to succeed. Sending a terrible reference, character reference for about her could have hurt her chances for her program, could have hurt her family in the long run. Like, why? Why why do all that? Why take that on, you know? And the reason that I just even wanted to like hurt her was because of how she treated me for so many years. And then her having the gall to ask my mom, you're asking a person for a recommendation letter, you know, and you hated their daughter. Like, it was just to be very hypocritical. But I realized right then and there, like, I gotta let God handle that. I don't want any ill will on her or her family. And if she was wrong in how she treated me, God will take care of that. I don't need to seek revenge on something like that. And now, like I said, I'm grown now and I really can reflect on those things and let that stuff go and not be an Absalon and fester and calculate and all that. And this also leads me to another story, another example. This is my dad's example, and I and I always just give him so much credit because the older I got, like now that I'm the age I am, I just admire my father and how he handled this. So my dad lost his job, one of his jobs, um, unfairly, because of his disability, because my father has you know multiple sclerosis, and my dad could have sued, but he didn't. And when the manager, who was like over him and everything, came to Miami to discuss the situation and to let my dad go, my parents knew that this guy had it out for my dad. He talked horribly about my dad, he always questioned what my dad was doing, and he just was a hater. He really was a hater. So he's sitting there and he's just he came all the way to Miami to to let my dad go. And he was like, Well, Don, you know, it's just it's just the right thing to do. And you know, I I I just hope God blesses you in other ways. And, you know, let you know, let's just pray. Let's pray together. And I would love to pray for you guys. And then right in that moment, my mom told me the story, and she said to me, You know what your father said? I said, What? My dad put his hand up and said, No, no, no, that's okay. Don't pray for me. And I I that guy was blown away with that response, and my mom said that God told her to just not say anything. And that man got up, walked out the door, and we never saw him again. And right then and there, I remember I looked at my dad like, we should sue, we should this, and am I dad said, No, God's gonna take care of me. And you know what? That manager was wrong in a lot of things that he did, but you know what? Let the Lord like let him take care of that. I'm not gonna seek out revenge for what? He's like, I know God's gonna take care of me, and I will just never forget that because my dad is not a confrontational type person, and he wasn't in this uh he wasn't in this incident either, but the fact that he just I felt like those those few words he said was just everything he needed to say, and it was like God planted those words in him at that moment, and that my dad felt like that was enough, he didn't need to seek revenge, he didn't need to let that fester. And you know what? My parents have been blessed abundantly since then, and they don't even think about that man, to be honest. I don't even know if they remember his name. But, anyways, um when we seek our own revenge, you're just sinning more. Let God handle it, like my dad said. His revenge is sweeter than ours all the time. And so this chapter, chapter 13 in 2 Samuel, it shows us a domino effect of trauma. It started with David, it moved to his kids. It happened back then, and it happens now, but we can learn from this. We choose, we can choose to be people who don't stay complacent and who don't seek our own revenge. And there was one key verse I did wanted to share with you before we close today. It's Romans 12, 19. And it says, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Love you all, let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the truth of your word, even when it's heavy and it's hard to hear. God, I pray for everyone listening who feels that they are caught in a ripple effect of someone else's mistakes or even their own. Lord, give us the courage not to be complacent. If there is a sin we need to address or a conversation we need to have, give us the strength to do it today, Lord, so it doesn't fester into bitterness and possible sin or revenge. And Father, for the person holding on to a recommendation letter or a grudge from ten years ago, help them to release it now. We choose to trust that you are the protector and our judge. We don't want to block our own blessings by trying to do your job, Lord. We pray for those who mistreated us and that they would flourish and find you. And we ask that you would heal our families from the inside out. Break those cycles, Lord, and let us start a new legacy of love and justice. Father, we love you and we thank you so much for the study of David. This has been heavy, but it's been so enlightening and so encouraging at the same time, and we thank you so much for that, Lord. Father, we love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Love you all. Till next time. Well, that wraps up this week's episode. I hope these devotions help you draw closer to God each day. If this episode encouraged you, please share it with someone who might need the same message. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a weekly episode. Also, if you feek if you feel compelled, leaving a nice review would be so appreciated as well. For more information or to reach out, check the show notes or visit jessymorganhome.com or find me on Instagram at Jessimorganlife. Remember, God's timing is always perfect. Keep trusting him. Until next time, this is Jesse Morgan praying off.