Good day dear friends.
Prayer update: I visited with Doris Tillman yesterday afternoon and she appreciates our prayers and asks we continue to pray for her. She sees an eye specialist on Tuesday in San Antonio. She's not been eating well and is still very sad about having lost sight in her eye. Please continue to pray for Doris.
Here is our study guide for today:2 Samuel 16, 17, 18These chapters have to do especially with a series of intimate human relationships. What do they reveal about David the man?
My mother bought for me a picture book of the Bible when I was a child. It's an illustrated book with beautiful pictures of different stories of the Bible, and one of the most vivid pictures in my memory is that of the young man Absalom hanging by his hair in the tree. The biggest disagreements I ever had with my own father was about my hair. I've shared that for the first years of my life I always had the choice between a "GI" or a flattop haircut. The only different is the "fence" a flattop allows in the front and sometimes the sides. The Beatles didn't help matters any in the 60s. The picture in the Bible book illustrated one of the pitfalls of long hair!
In these readings today we see the picture of a loving and caring father. David's son hated him and wanted him dead so that he could take over as king, and in some sense already had, capturing Jerusalem and commanding the army of Israel, but as long as David was alive, Absalom knew that he could not truly be king, so he sought to kill him. Even in spite of being hunted down like an animal, David still worried about his son. The first chapter of today's reading shows a man who cares also about God and what God may be saying or doing even through bitter old men who cursed and threw rocks at him! David thought that this man who hated David, might just be speaking God's word towards him through the curses.
Even in the face of battle, David wanted nothing to happen to his son. Though the son wanted David completely defeated, humiliated, and dead, David wanted Absalom to be alive. The story ends as it does with Absalom hanging by his hair in this tree and David's longtime general, Joab takes three knives and stabs him in the heart, and then the rest of his soldiers cut what's left of Absalom's body, then throw the remains in a pit and cover it with rocks. The army of Israel realizes their leader is dead and all the soldiers return home, and the civil war is over.
David, unlike other men, does not rejoice at this victory; instead he weeps for the loss of his son. While he may have his kingdom and army back, it matters not, for his son is dead. We see this man as one who loved his children, and even if they didn't want the best for him, he wanted the best for them.
How do we react to troubled relationships with loved ones? Does it make you happy if someone in your family with whom you might be estranged suffers loss or setback? Or does the love you have for them go beyond that, and makes you weep and be sad for them? What does God want us to do as parents, siblings, children? I believe God wants us to never stop loving and praying and hoping for the best for our family members. May God also work to keep families in love with one another.
PRAYER: Loving God, make me the person that loves even in the midst of a troubled relationship. Touch my heart and the heart of those family members who might not want the best for me. Help us to love again. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
Prayer update: I visited with Doris Tillman yesterday afternoon and she appreciates our prayers and asks we continue to pray for her. She sees an eye specialist on Tuesday in San Antonio. She's not been eating well and is still very sad about having lost sight in her eye. Please continue to pray for Doris.
Here is our study guide for today:2 Samuel 16, 17, 18These chapters have to do especially with a series of intimate human relationships. What do they reveal about David the man?
My mother bought for me a picture book of the Bible when I was a child. It's an illustrated book with beautiful pictures of different stories of the Bible, and one of the most vivid pictures in my memory is that of the young man Absalom hanging by his hair in the tree. The biggest disagreements I ever had with my own father was about my hair. I've shared that for the first years of my life I always had the choice between a "GI" or a flattop haircut. The only different is the "fence" a flattop allows in the front and sometimes the sides. The Beatles didn't help matters any in the 60s. The picture in the Bible book illustrated one of the pitfalls of long hair!
In these readings today we see the picture of a loving and caring father. David's son hated him and wanted him dead so that he could take over as king, and in some sense already had, capturing Jerusalem and commanding the army of Israel, but as long as David was alive, Absalom knew that he could not truly be king, so he sought to kill him. Even in spite of being hunted down like an animal, David still worried about his son. The first chapter of today's reading shows a man who cares also about God and what God may be saying or doing even through bitter old men who cursed and threw rocks at him! David thought that this man who hated David, might just be speaking God's word towards him through the curses.
Even in the face of battle, David wanted nothing to happen to his son. Though the son wanted David completely defeated, humiliated, and dead, David wanted Absalom to be alive. The story ends as it does with Absalom hanging by his hair in this tree and David's longtime general, Joab takes three knives and stabs him in the heart, and then the rest of his soldiers cut what's left of Absalom's body, then throw the remains in a pit and cover it with rocks. The army of Israel realizes their leader is dead and all the soldiers return home, and the civil war is over.
David, unlike other men, does not rejoice at this victory; instead he weeps for the loss of his son. While he may have his kingdom and army back, it matters not, for his son is dead. We see this man as one who loved his children, and even if they didn't want the best for him, he wanted the best for them.
How do we react to troubled relationships with loved ones? Does it make you happy if someone in your family with whom you might be estranged suffers loss or setback? Or does the love you have for them go beyond that, and makes you weep and be sad for them? What does God want us to do as parents, siblings, children? I believe God wants us to never stop loving and praying and hoping for the best for our family members. May God also work to keep families in love with one another.
PRAYER: Loving God, make me the person that loves even in the midst of a troubled relationship. Touch my heart and the heart of those family members who might not want the best for me. Help us to love again. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
