2 Samuel 18:31-33 - Then the man from Cush arrived and said,
"I have good news for my lord the king. Today the LORD has rescued you
from all those who rebelled against you." "What about young
Absalom?" the king demanded. "Is he all right?"And the Cushite
replied, "May all of your enemies, both now and in the future, be as that
young man is!" The king was
overcome with emotion. He went up to his room over the gateway and burst into
tears. And as he went, he cried, "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom!
If only I could have died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son."
David appointed 2 more generals over the troops that fled
with him…and they immediately talked him into staying in the city...instead of
coming to fight with them. He agreed
with their logic...but was very clear to them that he wanted his son Absalom to
be dealt with gently. They battled in the open fields and eventually ended up
in the forest…where Absalom’s beautiful hair got caught in a great Oak
tree. It left him dangling in the air...an
easy target for Joab and the others to kill him.
Two messengers arrived to tell him the bittersweet news. The
enemy was dead…and the son he loved very much had been killed in the battle.
His heart must have broken as he went to his room and burst into tears….crying
out through his strong emotions how very much he loved his son….so much that he
wished he had died in his place. His
love had no limits….loving Absalom in spite of his great rebellious spirit.
Perhaps some of his tears were tears of remorse…knowing that
Nathan had predicted such events after his sin with Bathsheba. He knew in his
heart that Absalom’s death was part of his punishment for his sin. Maybe his tears were amplified by the knowledge
that his wishes had been ignored…he must have felt a bit of anger at the one
who ignored his command to deal gently with his son.
David’s pure love reminds me of the love my Jesus had as he
died for my sins on the cross. It shows me just how far my own heart is from
understanding and modeling this kind of love to those around me. I simply need
to work on my attitude of love toward others…for if I am honest with myself …that
selfish pride that satan managed to cultivate in my spirit for so many years….has
deep roots. God is working on me…and has
detected and removed quite a bit…but I fight the sneaky arrows of satan daily
that try to infiltrate the progress God has made on washing that pride and
selfishness out of my heart.
One good thing that David did at this point in his life is
allow himself the time to grieve and cry over his loss. He went to his room and
had himself a good cry…he cried out to God just how much he loved his son…and
how much he would miss him. His words
were pure…honest… completely expressing his heart of pain. He cried out to God…the
only one who would be able to heal his deep wound of loss….his first words of
loss helping to heal the hole that was left when his heart burst.
Father…thank you for this story of love and pain that reminds
me just how much you loved me. Help me
father to cultivate this deep love for others in my own heart…and let it
replace any remnant of selfishness that remains in my heart. Thank you for the
reminder that tears are healing tools of the spirit…help me to never hold them
back…but allow them to wash the pain out of my heart…and begin to fill the hole
from my own losses with your love. Let
your love grow deeper roots than the old roots of selfishness…that will
overcome and choke selfishness completely out of existence in my life. Let the
strength and power of your love build me into a woman that loves others more
than she loves herself. Amen.
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