In our last episode, we discussed the fact that it’s ultimately how we commune with God that determine swhat kind of person and nation we become. Today, in part 2, we are going to pick up from PART 1 and address the epidemic that we face as a nation with deficit of biblical literacy which has led to a bankrupt Moral Standard in the family, government, corporate culture and world at large. Let’s get started.
As stated, today, I am going to show you that ultimately, it’s how we commune with God that will determine what kind of person and nation we become. And what kind of person we are will determine what kind of parent we are to our children, which dictates how our children grow up to run corporations, government, societies, countries, continents and the world.
WELCOME BACK TO PART 2: IN PART 1, we looked at 2 Samuel and the life of David and established that we as Christians and the world a large face a deficit of biblical morality in the family, government, corporate culture, our community, the country and world at large.
Today, I am going to sound the sobriety alarm and say what most all of us are thinking, which is that if we as Christians don’t change ourselves and take a stand to be salt and light in order to change culture-culture will continue to change us as the body of Christ and church into it’s own image. If that continues, life and freedom as we know it today are going to diminish if not perish at our own demise. To be clear, we can change that over time and right side the world once again for our children’s generation if think, act and move courageously and rightly-according to God’s Word and ways. It won’t be easy but it can be done. It’s up to you, me and all of us as Christians to do this.
WHERE DO WE START?
FIRST, with the understanding and acceptance that USA as we know it from the past 75-100 years is gone. SECOND, it will take at least one generation to turn things around. And THIRDLY, we must embrace the fact that turning the world right-side up in God’s strength starts with equipping the next generation to be godly, morally driven leaders, fathers and mothers, rulers and leaders who stand on consistent principles.
But, this all starts with the family. It’s like a tree that grows in a forest. It always grows in the direction of the sun. If the sun is not directly overhead, it will grow crooked-to the left or the right-ultimately becoming a crooked tree. Anyone who is a father, mother or a leader knows that communication with their children, employees and constituents is essential to their well being as their upbringing as a child, and development as a person is what makes all cultures and civilizations successful.
THE DOMINO EFFECT: There is a “DOMINO EFFECT” to creating and raising up strong children, communities, churches, cultures and countries. How you and I parent our children determines how the next generation will run the WORLD, including corporations and governments around the world. Let’s be careful to go to God’s Word and get in prayer about this for our own life and family before we look to the crumbling world for counseling and psychological direction.
Again, the USA and world as we know it is gone. This is simple history as empires rise and fall. The question is not so much what is in the present, but preparing our young people for WHAT COMES NEXT. The world they inherit is much different and more challenging than the one most of us inherited. That being said, the one thing we can all be assured of is that God is on the throne, and will raise up and use His remnant to create a very different but wonderful new world. And God will use those who know and serve his rightly. Those with strong biblical commitment, moral fortitude, and conviction. With that setting being laid out, let’s switch gears to the main source of wisdom and pick up where we left off in life of king David and his son Absalom in 2 Samuel.
THE SCRIPTURAL PICTURE: Remember the SETTING-Absalom had planned to kill his father king David in 2 Samuel 17:1 and unsightly assumed the throne as king. The succession of the throne would most likely have been Absalom. Had Absalom been patient, he would not have gone after his father. But, as we know, God is always in full control and used David’s good friend Hushai to protect David and correct the wrong of Absalom. David’s loyal friend Hushai stayed behind, acting to be loyal to Absalom and to help thwart Absalom, which he did when re-directed an effective plan to kill David devised by traitor and treasonous Ahithophel. God used Hushai, David’s loyal friend to usher in advise that would benefit king David, and successfully thwarted the counsel of Ahithophel which lead to the downfall of Absalom as well as Ahithophel taking his own life. WHY did Ahithophel take his own life? Because he realized that his cause was lost and that they would lose the war to David with the advise that Hushai gave him. Ahithophel know that they would lose the battle and that he himself would be put to death for treason. As a result, the Bible tells us that:
“WHEN AHITHOPHEL SAW THAT HIS COUNSEL WAS NOT FOLLOWED, HE SADDLED HIS DONKEY AND WENT OFF HOME TO HIS OWN CITY. HE SET HIS HOUSE IN ORDER AND HANGED HIMSELF AND HE DIED AND WAS BURIED IN THE TOMB OF HIS FATHER” (2 Samuel 17:23).
SO WHAT!-Take Aways:
FIRST: The tragedy of Absalom was a consequence of David’s sin with Bathsheba (12:11-12). We should all know that while our sins are be forgiven by God. We all need to as well understand and accept that despite God’s forgiveness, we often still reap the inevitable consequences of our sin and actions. Too many Christians see heavenly forgiveness of our sins to include the erasing of our earthly consequences. That’s not true. The vest thing to do is to NOT commit the sin to begin with in order to avoid offending God and earthly consequences. But all of us are imperfect and must accept the earthly as things we need to live with in light of God’s grace-using those consequences to instruct our minds and hearts there-forward.
SECOND: The danger of rooting for the evil underdog, which we often do in American and around the world is wrong, harmful. And it also carries consequences. King David often seemed to almost support those who sought his life at the expense of those who were keeping him (David) alive to begin with. In verse 7 Joab warned that David’s Unrestrained expression of his grief for Absalom could lead to political disaster because David selfishly put his emotional distraught for Absalom before his own military men, leaders and the general population. It’s understandable that David would mourn Absalom as that was his own son who he loved greatly. But he ought not have done that publicly. Remember that Absalom set out to kill David and many of the Jews in the process through war and David’s men are the ones who kept David alive. David was WRONG to publicly mourn his son who was Israel’s deadly enemy. LISTEN TO HOW JOAB makes this this clear to David in verses 5-6,
“…YOU HAVE TODAY COVERED WITH SHAME THE FACES OF ALL YOUR SERVANTS, WHO HAVE THIS DAY SAVED YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF YOUR SONS AND YOU DAUGHTERS AND THE LIVES OF YOUR WIVES AND YOU CONCUBINES, BECAUSE YOU LOVE THOSE WHO HATE YOU. AND ATE THOSE WHO LOVE YOU”.
Joab didn’t stop there thought. He then calls David on the carpet in the second half of verse 6, saying, “FOR YOU HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TODAY THAT COMMANDERS AND SERVANTS ARE NOTHING TO YOU, FOR TODAY I KNOW THAT IF ABSALOM WERE ALIVE AND ALL OF US WERE DEAD TODAY, THEN YOU WOULD BE PLEASED”. (That’s a strong statement to the king that Joab woudn’t have made had it not been true).
APPLICATION FOR YOUR AND I TODAY: David was a father and Good fathers put the right thing ahead of their own interests and their own emotions. David was a valiant man in many ways, but he missed the mark as a father in many ways. This is not uncommon for most high level leaders. To be at the top, such as the “king”, it is demanding on one’s time, emotions and physical strength. Had David granted Absalom the same grace upon Absalom (his son) for killing the young man who raped his daughter-had he shown the same grace David asked God to bestow upon him (David) for committing adultery with Bathsheba, and then murdering her husband Uriah, the story most definitely would have turned out much different.
Let’s remember that David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one of David’s most committed servants (Uriah) and then murdered. Had David been a better father to Absalom, his son it seems most likely that he would have remained alive and probably even would have ended up taking over the throne with David’s blessings as opposed to by force upon David’s death of old age. I’m not blaming David for Absalom’s sin, but only saying that perhaps, had David acted more like a loving father, Absalom may not have sinned as he did in the first place.
I am not seeking to put David down either. He was a great man, a great leader and a man after God’s own heart. What I am saying is that he is praised in our modern age without looking at his downfallings. It’s David’s courage with Goliath that we love to speak about and it’s that courage that strengthens many of us. But it’s in his sin and error that we can learn from as well. David was a servant of God, God’s chosen king, and a man after God’s own heart. That is a fact. He was a valiant, courageous warrior for God. But he was also a polygamist, an adulterer, and a murderer; not to mention an absent father. While one ought not outshine other other-both should be observed.
Where was David for those two years when his own son, Absalom yearned to meet with him, spend time with him and be with his father who brought him out of hiding to be in Jerusalem with the king in the first place? I revere David as a biblical Character but I don’t fully understand him. As Absalom said in verse 6, “…BECAUSE YOU LOVE THOSE WHO HATE YOU, AND HATE THOSE WHO LOVE YOU”. To David’s defense, it must have been difficult to be king and father at the same time, but that’s an excuse. Le’t keep in mind as we learn from the Scriptures that one ought never be too busy for their son, daughter, husband or wife.
IN CONCLUSION: Anyone who is a father knows that communication with their children is essential to their healthy upbringing and development as a godly person in their adult life. Let’s keep in mind that our actions and words hold consequences as God makes clear in 2 Samuel 12:10.
“NOW THEREFORE THE SWORD SHALL NEVER DEPART FROM YOUR HOUSE, BECAUSE YOU HAVE DESPISED ME AND HAVE TAKEN THE WIFE OF URIAH THE HITTITE TO BE YOUR WIFE” (2 Samuel 12:10).
None of us are perfect fathers, mothers or parents in general. That’s not the point. This story has been told, taught and studied for thousands of years. But I have seldom heard as sermon on David’s failings. In the end, David was a man after God’s own heart because he demonstrated his faith and was committed to following the Lord. As a man after God’s own heart, David is a role model in many ways for all of us. But, in other ways, he is life lesson of how not to parent and act as a leader as well.
You and I have been given this biblical lesson to help instruct us regarding how we ought to raise up our own children and how to avoid the same pitfalls we see in David’s life. We can do better only if we learn from others as well as our own failures in life. And it all starts with our sitting down with God, spending proper time in His word and prayer. And then in light of God’s wisdom, applying those principles to how we raise our children. And this includes with open-loving communication. When we do this, our children and the next generation will want to hear God’s wisdom. And this can be our greatest legacy.
