If you plant corn, what will grow?
        Corn! Not apples, not grapes, but corn.

If you plant wheat, what will grow?
        Wheat! Not tomatoes, not pumpkins, but wheat.

It's funny how that works! What you plant is what you get. The Bible teaches that:

Today we will see what grew from those things that David planted.

Review: After the prophet had warned him, David confessed his guilt. He admitted with shame that it was true. Now, the Law said that for either adultery or murder, David was guilty of death himself. But when he confessed his sin, the prophet said, "The Lord forgives you; you will not die, BUT...." But What?

True God was not going to punish David for his sin, but He let David harvest the things he planted.

Tamar (F)  and Absalom (M) were sister & brother.
Amnon was half brother to the other two.

A cousin of Amnon offered him an idea:  Amnon pretended to be sick. His father, David, came in to see him. Amnon said,

Absalom, Tamar's full brother, was also angry.  And because David failed to punish Amnon, Absalom planned his own revenge. Two years later, Absalom planned a big party, and invited the whole family.

        King David said to Absalom, "No, my son. We won’t all go, because it would be too much trouble for you." Although Absalom begged David, he would not go, but he did give his blessing.
        Absalom said, "If you don’t want to come, then please let my brother Amnon come with us."
        King David asked, "Why should he go with you?"
        Absalom kept begging David until he let Amnon and all the king’s sons go with Absalom. (2 Samuel 13:25-27)

David's sons all went to big brother's party.  Amnon got drunk, as Absalom had planned, and Absalom gave the order to his servants to attack and kill Amnon.  The rest of the brothers race back to Jerusalem on their mules, and Absalom ran to safe refuge to live with his grand-father, a foreign king, 70 miles away.

Finally, after three years, David's friends told him that it was wrong to keep his son away, but should forgive him, and let him come home.  David agreed, and gave his permission for Absalom to return to Jerusalem.

No doubt, David felt that looking into the face of Absolom would be like looking into a mirror.  His sons' sins reminded him of his own sins. Just as he felt he couldn't punish Amnon for raping his sister, David also couldn't punish Absalom for murdering his brother.  After all, David himself had ordered the execution of Uriah, an innocent man.

David, the "man after God's own heart," understood that God had forgiven him.  But could David ever forgive himself?

        Absalom lived in Jerusalem for two full years without seeing King David.Then Absalom sent for Joab so he could send him to the king, but Joab would not come. Absalom sent a message a second time, but Joab still refused to come.  Then Absalom said to his servants, "Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley growing there. Go burn it." So Absalom’s servants set fire to Joab’s field.
        Then Joab went to Absalom’s house and said to him, "Why did your servants burn my field?"
        Absalom said to Joab, "I sent a message to you, asking you to come here. I wanted to send you to the king to ask him why he brought me home from Geshur. It would have been better for me to stay there! Now let me see the king. If I have sinned, he can put me to death!"
        So Joab went to the king and told him Absalom’s words. Then the king called for Absalom. Absalom came and bowed facedown on the ground before the king, and the king kissed him. (2 Samuel 14:28-33)

Absolom was now the oldest son. Absolom expected that he would be the next king after David. But Absolom's resentment against his father grew so deep, that he couldn't wait.  He wanted to be king now. So Absolom led a conspiracy of rebellion against David. This is how he did it:

The "supreme court" of Israel was the King. People would come to the king with their legal problems.

        Absalom would get up early and stand near the city gate. Anyone who had a problem for the king to settle would come here. When someone came, Absalom would call out and say, "What city are you from?"
        The person would answer, "I’m from one of the tribes of Israel."
        Then Absalom would say, "Look, your claims are right, but the king has no one to listen to you." Absalom would also say, "I wish someone would make me judge in this land! Then people with problems could come to me, and I could help them get justice."
        People would come near Absalom to bow to him. When they did, Absalom would reach out his hand and take hold of them and kiss them. Absalom did that to all the Israelites who came to King David for decisions. In this way, Absalom stole the hearts of all Israel.

The truth was that David did care about the people, and he took time to hear their problems. But, in helping the people, he forgot his own family, and had no time for his own son. And so he lost the heart of his son, Absalom.

Absalom secretly announced to the people he planned to take the throne very soon. David heard about it, and got scared. He packed his bags, gathered his family, escaped from Jerusalem. Some of his friends went with him; he asked some of his friends to stay in Jerusalem to be his spies. He also left ten of his concubines (women in his harem who had a lower status than his wives) to take care of the palace.

Now, for a moment let's suspend the story and go back to the story last week, when the prophet warned David. Remember he said,

There is much more that happened to David in his trouble with Absalom. But at the end, in the battle between David's army and Absalom's army, Absalom was killed. (This is a familiar Sunday School story, from 2 Samuel 18.) David went back to Jerusalem, and took up reign as king again. And life went on.

Planting and harvesting. When David invited Bathsheba over for "a litte fun," he figured, "There's no harm in it. Everyone is doing it. Nothing will happen."

The Bible says:

But doesn't God forgive??? Oh, yes, praise God, He does.  He forgave David, forgave him completely! But He did not spare the consequences.  We see that God gave David the ability to respond wisely to those problems as they came up. Sometimes David acted wisely in the face of his problem. But those problems were like a mirror to show David his own heart, and he couldn't look. He avoided the problem, which made it only worse.

Today you face situations which are the harvest of the seeds you planted earlier in your life.  You can avoid them, or face them.  You can accept God's forgiveness and forgive yourself, and let God use the problem to build the character of Christ in you and bring honor to His name. His will is not to punish, but to make us more like Christ and to show himself both holy and gracious to an unbelieving world