And let's get into the word.

On Thursday nights, we're going through 2nd Samuel chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

Last week, we completed chapter 20.

We're almost done with the book.

Tonight, we will, Lord willing, get through 2nd Samuel chapter 21.

You can turn there at this time if you're not already there.

And as you do, I'll kind of set the stage

here a little bit. Chapter 20 ended with Joab repositioning himself as very cunningly, I might

add, as David's military commander.

This after he killed Amasa, who was the one that David had put in Joab's position.

So he kills him very deceptively and just cold-blooded murder.

And then he also killed a rebel

that had rebelled against the kingdom. His name was Sheba. So after this

then he was put back in that position as David's military commander.

Now at this point, and this will be germane to our understanding as we get into

our study tonight, David's reign as king, he is believed to be about in his 60s. Some think maybe his

early to mid-60s. He's grown much older now, and we'll see it here shortly. His age is going to

come into play. He's not only much older. He's much wiser, thankfully, as we're about to see,

much wiser than he was when he was younger, which is where we're going to pick it up here in verse one.

But let's pray first and ask God's blessing on our time and his word.

Loving Heavenly Father, we're here tonight because we're hungry for your word.

We're hungry and thirsty for you to speak into our lives through your word.

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