FN-030 - God Knows the Motives of Each Heart

II Samuel 13:28 - Here's another messy one, and a challenge.  If you like soap operas, here's a story for you.  David has several wives, and by them, several sets of children.  In one group is Amnon, in another, Absalom and his lovely sister Tamar.

Amnon is in lust over Tamar, and finds a ruse to rape her - then he discards her as trash.  When Absalom finds out, he tells Tamar to keep quiet and forget the whole thing.  David finds out and gets quite angry, but no one confronts Amnon for two years.  "Desolate" is the word that describes Tamar for the rest of her days.

After two years, Absalom invites all the sons of David to a dinner and orders his servants to kill Amnon once he is sufficiently drunk. #FearNot, he tells them, "you're following my orders."  The guilt of their actions is to fall on him as their master.

Frankly, everyone in the story, with the exception of Tamar, is guilty. Her half brother is a rapist and a scoundrel, her brother an insensitive murderer-by-proxy, and her father a spineless coward.  But that's another article for another day.  What, if anything, does this mess tell us about God, and what can be said for the "fear not" found on Absalom's tongue?

This:  God knows the motives of every heart, so the hearts with no malice have nothing to fear from Him.  Mind your motives and #FearNot.

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