Text: 2 Samuel 16:5-13
Memory verse:
”Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him.“
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭20‬:‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Let’s continue to consider some restitutions that we need to make.
Next are the lies and slanders against someone in the past.
Without divine intervention, the effects of these can be so disastrous. John reported his experience with Diotrephes. “When I come, then, I will bring up everything he has done: the terrible things he says about us and the lies he tells!..“ ‭‭(3 John‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬ ‭GNT‬‬).
According to our text, Shimei cursed King David and slandered him as he fled from his rebel son, Absalom. He threw stones at him, called him blood-thirsty man and a rogue! He mocked him and described his affliction as a divine retribution (2 Sam 16:5-8). However, Shimei became the first to welcome him back, bowed down before him, acknowledged his sin, and pleaded for forgiveness. ”…. Shimei fell down before him. “My Lord the king, please forgive me,” he pleaded. “Forget the terrible thing your servant did when you left Jerusalem. May the king put it out of his mind. I know how much I sinned. That is why I have come here today, the very first person in all Israel to greet my Lord the king.”“ ‭‭(2 Sam‬ ‭19‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬).
We also need to make restitutions where marriages have been wrongly entered into or not done according to proper order. God’s standard is that “a man shall be joined to his wife” and not his wives. Thus, any union with another person, while one’s spouse lives or any marriage with a married person, while one’s spouse lives, is judged as sinful and unacceptable. ”Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.“ (Luke 16:18). Restitution requires that the adulterous spouse be put away and the first relationship restored. King Abimelech made restitution and restored Sarah when he discovered that she was another man’s wife.
Also, restitution is required where lawful parental demands were not met. For example, if you have married a woman without paying the customary bride price; without the parents’ or the spouse’s consent, you must seek to right the wrong immediately, else you remain a ‘kidnapper’. Godly counsel must, however, be sought in sensitive cases or when the demands are sinful.
May the Lord give you wisdom and courage to right all wrongs and to set things in order, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer points
1. Father, please forgive me for every wrong thing I have said about others and help me to right the wrongs, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, give courage to everyone in disorderly marriage to do the proper thing in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. I make restitution for every wrong thing I have said about others by acknowledging and desisting from them.
2. Restitution in marriage is to put away the disorderly and to restore the orderly.