Banished conjures strong images, like that of a king driving a traitor into the desert. No one plans on banishment as a life experience.

In the midst of a terrible family tragedy, the first trickling of the flood to flow from his adultery with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of Uriah, a woman confronted David. She reminded him: We must die. But that is not what the Lord desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.

In that moment the king’s son, Absalom, remained banished from David. On the broader canvas, David banished himself from the Lord through his sin. But the Lord restored David, and so David restored Absalom.

The Lord always looks from ways to restore those banished back to him. Of course, Jesus remains the ultimate way. No one must remain in the desert. But I also think of how thoughts of the Lord tend to cycle through the lives of many distant from him.

For years no spiritual interest at all, then a personal tragedy or a chance meeting with an old friend or warfare abroad brings a verse or a comment to mind. The Lord reminds the banished that he’s still there and he provides a way back. I often hear someone say, That’s when I returned to my faith.

Why? Because he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him. Do you feel banished? Or does someone you love? That’s normal—we all wander beyond the pale. But know that the Lord is actively looking for ways to bring us back.

2 Samuel 14 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Markus Spiske