Good Morning my sweet girls! So listen, I wanted to talk to you about something I learned this morning in my time with the Lord. I have been studying the life of David for about a year and half now. I started in 1 Samuel 18 and have made my way through verse by verse to 2 Samuel 19 (where I am today). My oh my what a journey this study as been, I have learned so much and God has poured out rich fertilizer on my faith, that has caused me to grow in my love and understanding of Him and yet, I am only scratching the surface. Oh I pray that you girls will give the scriptures a chance, that you make yourself spend time reading it and studying it, even when you don't feel like it. It will bless you in ways you never thought possible. (Find a good commentary that will hold your hand along the way and pry open the meaning for you. I have used David Guzik for my study). Any who... I am only through verse 8 of chapter 19, but it has already taught me so much that I wanted to stop and soak in it for a while, really let it soak in because it is an area where I need to "grow up" in my walk with the Lord.
Let me set the scene for you. David has been King of Israel but his son (for reasons that David is partly responsible for) has effectively run David out of "town" and is seeking to kill him and take over as the new King. God in his mercy is faithful towards David and gives David's men a victory in their battle against Absalom (David's son), but Absalom is killed. David mourns for Absalom which is understandable BUT he takes it too far, it consumes him it's all he can think about, soon all of his men that bravely fought and won this battle start to feel ashamed of their victory and ashamed of the good they had done for Israel that day. One of David's commanders confronts David, calls him out and calls him out good (2 Samuel 19:5-7) tells David that he is making it clear to his commanders and his soldiers that they mean nothing to him, that David loves those who hate him (speaking of Absalom) and hate those who love him (all of his loyal supporters that had fought so bravely for him and for Israel). Then he tells David to get up and go comfort his men. WHAT? He wants David to comfort his men???? Did their son just die??? NO!! His son just died! Shouldn't they be comforting him!! Which brings us to verse 8, what would David do? I know what Mommy would do. I would be hacked off, how dare he come in here and tell me I'm wrong for feeling this way, "this or that" didn't happen to him today. Then I would start to list all the terrible things that have happened to me over my life time to justify why I get to wallow in my pain and hurt. I would squint my eyes as I called my friends and told them what a jerk he was for talking to me that way I would attack his character by saying things like "what kind of person kicks a man when is down, what a hypocrite he is, what makes him think he can talk to me like that he has no idea how I have suffered!" Oh yes, I do believe I would be all fired up! and by golly I would be justified! My life is HARD, I have had to suffer one heart ache after another, surely everyone understands why I feel the way I do. So, now that we know what I would do, let's turn back to David, a man who made a LOT of terrible choices, some of which lead him to be in the position that he was currently in, but has been referred to as a man after God's own heart. Let's take a minute to see how he reacted to Joab getting all up in his business. Verse 8 "So the King got up and took his seat in the gateway". He didn't get all pissy with Joab, he didn't pick up the phone and call his best friend and say "You'll never guess what Joab just said to me!" He didn't pout, he didn't get mad, he got up and did the right thing. He not only heard what Joab said but he listened to the wisdom of what Joab was saying and he applied immediately. "He got up"! I was deeply moved by this passage, I need to grow in this area, I don't like being told am I wrong, or that I need to do something differently and when I am faced with something difficult or down right crappy, I want to be told I have every right to sit there and lick my wounds for as long as I want too. The commentator talked about as christians we need to look different than the world, if we wallow in our situations how does the world see the Hope that Christians have in Christ?? It struck me on so many different levels. Listen, really crappy stuff happens to christians, their babies die, they have abusive parents, their husbands have affairs etc. and the stuff can make us feel terrible, angry, sad, alone etc. and that is okay and understandable. But David was mourning excessively, he wouldn't let it go. He wouldn't come to the place where he accepted that God is ALWAYS in control and God allowed this to happen and God was allowing David to be in this place in the midst of this situation. The problem wasn't with what David knew, that his son was dead and that he was partly responsible for what had ultimately lead to his death, but rather what he had forgotten, the victory of his men in battle, the restoration of him as king over Israel, God's grace and mercy over all the terrible choices David had made that had lead to this mess in the first place. My sweet girls, no doubt you will wake up one day and find yourself sit in the midst of a mess, pain, disappointment, fear, hurt and abandonment and it's okay for you to feel all of those things for a while, but there will come a time even in the midst of the situation that God will want you to "get up and take your seat in the gateway". A time where He will ask you to accept that "this" is where He has you right now and where you show the world that you love and trust Him enough to be "there" in the midst of the crap, but no longer sitting in it... walking through it, holding onto the hand of your Savior who is right there with you. So... mourn for awhile my precious ones, but then "Get up"!! I love you girls!! Mommy
No comments:
Post a Comment