March 10, 2020

Have you ever read the story of David and Absalom? It really is a tragic story. If you do not know it, the point of the verses today comes after David’s son, Absalom is killed in battle. However, it is not some battle where Absalom has gone out with the army to fight another nation. Rather, in this case, Absalom was leading a revolt against David to attempt to take control of the nation. His plan… win the hearts of the people, be proclaimed king by those who were loyal to him, kill his father, and assume the throne. The problem was that when he was proclaimed king by those loyal to him, word got back to David, which gave him time to flee. You might be asking, “Was he just a power-hungry young man?” The answer in part is yes. However, he would be better characterized as a bitter young man.

So where did his bitterness start? That actually goes back many years to a day when the kings of the earth when out to battle, but David stayed home. (Do you remember this start?) David wound up committing adultery with Bathsheba. She got pregnant. To cover his tracks, David ultimately had her husband, Uriah, killed. David’s older children were not young at this point. Unfortunately, this set a precedent among David’s household of taking whatever was desired and dealing with the repercussions later. We see this in David’s son, Amnon, raping his half-sister, Tamar, and then casting her out of his house. Absalom learned of the event (Tamar was his sister – same mother and father). Absalom never saw his father deal justice to his half-brother, so he took revenge and had Amnon killed. However, because David never did anything about the situation, he (Absalom) became bitter towards his father. In his battle against those loyal to David, Absalom was killed, and we see David’s response above in the verse for today.

Grief is a natural part of life, but some grief may be avoidable. Have you ever stopped to think where the grief that you are experiencing with your children or other people began? I recognize that not every wrong that our children commit can be traced back to the actions of their parents (look at Adam and Eve). However, some can.

Therefore, I wonder, have you ever reflected upon those things that your children have seen you engage in and realized that they are simply following your lead? Maybe it would be good for us all to spend some time in repentance, as well as engaged in conversation with our children regarding the failures of our lives so that maybe we can stop that domino from falling in their lives.