Absalom was an interesting character. One of King David’s sons, Absalom was very popular; I would have to guess that he was charismatic. Even when he was trying to have David killed, the king ordered that he be captured alive, but, I’m getting ahead of myself.
When Moses judged Israel in the wilderness, his father-in-law, Jethro, told Moses that he was going to wear himself out listening to every petty grievance that every Israelite had with any of his brethren. Jethro convinced Moses that he should pick out faithful men from the congregation of Israel to hear the minor cases. Apparently David, as king, was not familiar with that particular piece of advice. We find that, as David is trying to judge Israel, Absolom is talking to people that are waiting to have their grievances heard, and whatever they want, he tells them that they are right, and it’s a shame that they have to wait so long for justice. If only the king had appointed someone to hear their case, instead of hearing every case personally…
Before long, Absalom had managed to convince an awful lot of people that he would be a better king than his father. Once he felt that he had enough support, he led an uprising against his father, and attempted to usurp the throne. Of course, the bravest and mightiest warriors in the kingdom supported David, and they ended up putting down the rebellion in fairly short order. It might have lasted a lot longer, except that Joab ignored David’s command to not harm Absalom, and killed him the first chance he got. Without Absalom, the rebellion died quickly.
In one respect, Absalom was right; David should have appointed judges to hear minor cases, as Moses did before him. In another respect, Absalom was wrong, because, as David’s son, he probably could have convinced his father of the wisdom of that plan, had he tried. Instead, he went out and used his one piece of wisdom to undermine the king.
David was the man that God placed over Israel. Absalom might have eventually inherited the throne, had he done the right thing. Granted, Solomon had already been named as David’s successor, but things happen. We know, now, that Solomon ascended to the throne and ruled for a very long time. Absalom didn’t know that would happen, and, in fact, if he had lived a righteous life, he might have been chosen over Solomon when the time came. He tried to sneak his way into power, and got killed for it.
Sometimes we, as human beings, find ourselves in situations that just don’t make any sense. The boss says, do this or get fired, but what he wants done doesn’t make any sense. So, maybe we do what the boss says, but grumble about it to our co-workers. Now, if what the boss told us to do was wrong, who ends up getting blamed? I’ll give you a hint: Probably not the boss. If it works out for the best after all, then all that grumbling comes back to haunt us.
Sometimes it isn’t the boss, it’s the pastor. Now the Bible tells us that God will give us pastors according to his heart. Pastors are still human beings, and they make mistakes, same as the rest of us. When your pastor makes a mistake, though, (or you think that he has made a mistake) there is exactly one person that you should talk to about it: your pastor. If he can’t explain himself to you, then pray about it. I know there have been times when I disagreed with my pastor, and we could not come to a mutually satisfactory agreement; some of those times, after a few days, I came to an understanding as to why he felt that course of action was necessary; other times, he came to an understanding as to my objections, and changed his course of action. In either case, it really came down to outliving the problem, rather than solving it. Keep in mind that all things work together for good, because God is in control.
When Moses judged Israel in the wilderness, his father-in-law, Jethro, told Moses that he was going to wear himself out listening to every petty grievance that every Israelite had with any of his brethren. Jethro convinced Moses that he should pick out faithful men from the congregation of Israel to hear the minor cases. Apparently David, as king, was not familiar with that particular piece of advice. We find that, as David is trying to judge Israel, Absolom is talking to people that are waiting to have their grievances heard, and whatever they want, he tells them that they are right, and it’s a shame that they have to wait so long for justice. If only the king had appointed someone to hear their case, instead of hearing every case personally…
Before long, Absalom had managed to convince an awful lot of people that he would be a better king than his father. Once he felt that he had enough support, he led an uprising against his father, and attempted to usurp the throne. Of course, the bravest and mightiest warriors in the kingdom supported David, and they ended up putting down the rebellion in fairly short order. It might have lasted a lot longer, except that Joab ignored David’s command to not harm Absalom, and killed him the first chance he got. Without Absalom, the rebellion died quickly.
In one respect, Absalom was right; David should have appointed judges to hear minor cases, as Moses did before him. In another respect, Absalom was wrong, because, as David’s son, he probably could have convinced his father of the wisdom of that plan, had he tried. Instead, he went out and used his one piece of wisdom to undermine the king.
David was the man that God placed over Israel. Absalom might have eventually inherited the throne, had he done the right thing. Granted, Solomon had already been named as David’s successor, but things happen. We know, now, that Solomon ascended to the throne and ruled for a very long time. Absalom didn’t know that would happen, and, in fact, if he had lived a righteous life, he might have been chosen over Solomon when the time came. He tried to sneak his way into power, and got killed for it.
Sometimes we, as human beings, find ourselves in situations that just don’t make any sense. The boss says, do this or get fired, but what he wants done doesn’t make any sense. So, maybe we do what the boss says, but grumble about it to our co-workers. Now, if what the boss told us to do was wrong, who ends up getting blamed? I’ll give you a hint: Probably not the boss. If it works out for the best after all, then all that grumbling comes back to haunt us.
Sometimes it isn’t the boss, it’s the pastor. Now the Bible tells us that God will give us pastors according to his heart. Pastors are still human beings, and they make mistakes, same as the rest of us. When your pastor makes a mistake, though, (or you think that he has made a mistake) there is exactly one person that you should talk to about it: your pastor. If he can’t explain himself to you, then pray about it. I know there have been times when I disagreed with my pastor, and we could not come to a mutually satisfactory agreement; some of those times, after a few days, I came to an understanding as to why he felt that course of action was necessary; other times, he came to an understanding as to my objections, and changed his course of action. In either case, it really came down to outliving the problem, rather than solving it. Keep in mind that all things work together for good, because God is in control.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment