Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar. 2 Samuel 13:2
Imagine for a moment the palace of King David. It was a magnificent home, and David lived here with his large, blended family.
People walked past the palace every day thinking how marvelous it must be to live there—wonderful family, magnificent home, plenty of money—just about everything you could want. But the reality was different. Behind the public face, this was a family in crisis.
Amnon was David’s oldest son, and he was having serious problems with his thought life. He kept thinking about Tamar, who was his stepsister. She was a beautiful young woman, and Amnon would watch her around the palace. Soon his thoughts about her were out of control.
One day a terrible thing happened. Amnon invited his stepsister to his room, and he abused her. She came to give him a meal because she thought he was ill. But he was only pretending, and when she began to feed him, he grabbed her wrists and would not let go.
It is a terrible story. And it is in the Bible. Why? Because terrible things like this happen in this sorry world. We live in a world of terrible abuse. We hear increasingly of abuse in the family. We read about abuses that take place on a date. We need sexual harassment policies at work.
This is the sad world we live in, but we can be grateful that God speaks to us in the Bible about life as it is. There is nothing that you can experience in this world that God does not speak about in some way in His Word. God knows about the deepest wounds of your life.
How is it comforting to you that God knows and understands your wounds?
