Living in the Spirit

August 2, 2021

Scripture Reading:
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
The king gave orders to Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.’ And all the people heard when the king gave orders to all the commanders concerning Absalom.

So the army went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim. The men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the slaughter there was great on that day, twenty thousand men. The battle spread over the face of all the country; and the forest claimed more victims that day than the sword.

Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on. And ten young men, Joab’s armour-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him, and killed him.

Then the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, ‘Good tidings for my lord the king! For the Lord has vindicated you this day, delivering you from the power of all who rose up against you.’ The king said to the Cushite, ‘Is it well with the young man Absalom?’ The Cushite answered, ‘May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up to do you harm, be like that young man.’

The king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’

What would make a son revolt against his father? Who determines the one who is right and the wrong one? In Absalom’s case, the rebellion may have been simply lust for power or fear that he would not be the chosen heir. Life experience coupled with parents feeling their way through the challenge of raising a child can create unexpected results. My Dad’s father died suddenly and unexpectedly when Dad was ten years old in 1928. The following year marked the beginning of the Great Depression. Both events, I am sure, shaped his life in ways no one could have predicted.

We live in precarious times amid a stubborn pandemic that began in an already tumultuous political environment. Our call as Christ-followers is to dig even deeper into the well of Jesus’s teachings, letting them shape our lives rather than being shaped by the world about us. Loving and taking care of ourselves and our neighbors is the best starting point.

Prayer: Lord, let your love be our guide as we try to survive and thrive against the plagues that confront us. Please give us the courage to follow your course, not the world.  Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.