Reason #777
I am almost finished with 2 Samuel, and I read a story about David for the first time. I thought I knew a lot about him, but obviously I had more to learn. And so as I read the battle in 2 Samuel between King David and his son, I found myself confused at his behavior.
David has this rebellious son named Absalom. After letting him get away with bad behavior and overlooking his errors, David finds himself at war with his son. Really, he finds himself running for his life from his son who has decided to take over the kingdom. Had David stayed behind, Absalom was completely fine with killing him to gain control. He was going to get what he wanted, regardless of how it affected his father. And so David leaves, Absalom moves in to take over, and although that seems as if it should be sufficient, Absalom decides that he'll go ahead and attempt to hunt down and kill David so he never has to worry about the throne being taken back.
Well, to make a long story short, God intervenes in a lot of amazing ways. David's men and Absalom's men go to war with one another, and eventually, Absalom gets killed. Of course, many other men die in an attempt to protect David and restore him to his throne, yet as David finds out about the death of his son, he is devastated. He mourns for his son and says that he would have rather died than his son be dead. He is grieved about the loss of the very one who was out to kill him, the son who could care the less about having a relationship with him, and it baffled me that this would be David's reaction. The love of a parent must certainly be strong because I have to think if that were me, I would have felt relieved.
The more I read, the more I began to see the foreshadowing in the story. Because the truth is, we're that son. We are the selfish, self-seeking child who could often times care the less about how our actions affect our Heavenly Father. We're out to get what we want, and we'll do whatever it takes to obtain it. We don't care if it's rightfully ours or not, we want it and we'll find a way to have it. That may mean we steal, kill, manipulate, lie, or twist that facts to get it, but that's all we're concerned about. We'll fight for it, we'll stoop to all sorts of measures, we'll disobey the Lord if we need to, and we won't think another thing about it. We dishonor His name, show massive amounts of ungratefulness, fear, and respect, and we expect everything to turn out the way we planned because we really only care about ourselves.
Well, the Lord could have completely wiped His hands of us and said, "Fine, have it your way. Don't listen to me. But when you fail, don't you dare come back to me. It'll be too late." After all, we did all sorts of unspeakable and astonishing things, things that any parent would disapprove of, because we really weren't concerned about our relationship with Him in the first place. We were more concerned about power, about wealth, prestige, fame, fortune, and success. And so if that meant we had to push past Him to get it, well, then that's just what we were going to have to do. Yet God looked on us, and it grieved His heart. Watching His children die a slow and painful death to the bondage of sin was more than He could take. Sure, we deserved it, but the love of a parent is powerful and often times unexplainable, and it was that very love that stood in our place to die our death so that we didn't have to. David didn't have the chance to lay down his life for his son, although he wanted to, but God made the choice to do that for us because He wanted to.
I don't fully comprehend the love of a parent. Truthfully, it sounds pretty crazy sometimes. But I am grateful to be the recipient of that kind of love. To be lavished with that kind of love even though I don't deserve it. A love I could never earn, a love I could never work hard enough to keep, and a love I could never live without.
#777 - Because He gives us a love we can't live without.
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:13
David has this rebellious son named Absalom. After letting him get away with bad behavior and overlooking his errors, David finds himself at war with his son. Really, he finds himself running for his life from his son who has decided to take over the kingdom. Had David stayed behind, Absalom was completely fine with killing him to gain control. He was going to get what he wanted, regardless of how it affected his father. And so David leaves, Absalom moves in to take over, and although that seems as if it should be sufficient, Absalom decides that he'll go ahead and attempt to hunt down and kill David so he never has to worry about the throne being taken back.
Well, to make a long story short, God intervenes in a lot of amazing ways. David's men and Absalom's men go to war with one another, and eventually, Absalom gets killed. Of course, many other men die in an attempt to protect David and restore him to his throne, yet as David finds out about the death of his son, he is devastated. He mourns for his son and says that he would have rather died than his son be dead. He is grieved about the loss of the very one who was out to kill him, the son who could care the less about having a relationship with him, and it baffled me that this would be David's reaction. The love of a parent must certainly be strong because I have to think if that were me, I would have felt relieved.
The more I read, the more I began to see the foreshadowing in the story. Because the truth is, we're that son. We are the selfish, self-seeking child who could often times care the less about how our actions affect our Heavenly Father. We're out to get what we want, and we'll do whatever it takes to obtain it. We don't care if it's rightfully ours or not, we want it and we'll find a way to have it. That may mean we steal, kill, manipulate, lie, or twist that facts to get it, but that's all we're concerned about. We'll fight for it, we'll stoop to all sorts of measures, we'll disobey the Lord if we need to, and we won't think another thing about it. We dishonor His name, show massive amounts of ungratefulness, fear, and respect, and we expect everything to turn out the way we planned because we really only care about ourselves.
Well, the Lord could have completely wiped His hands of us and said, "Fine, have it your way. Don't listen to me. But when you fail, don't you dare come back to me. It'll be too late." After all, we did all sorts of unspeakable and astonishing things, things that any parent would disapprove of, because we really weren't concerned about our relationship with Him in the first place. We were more concerned about power, about wealth, prestige, fame, fortune, and success. And so if that meant we had to push past Him to get it, well, then that's just what we were going to have to do. Yet God looked on us, and it grieved His heart. Watching His children die a slow and painful death to the bondage of sin was more than He could take. Sure, we deserved it, but the love of a parent is powerful and often times unexplainable, and it was that very love that stood in our place to die our death so that we didn't have to. David didn't have the chance to lay down his life for his son, although he wanted to, but God made the choice to do that for us because He wanted to.
I don't fully comprehend the love of a parent. Truthfully, it sounds pretty crazy sometimes. But I am grateful to be the recipient of that kind of love. To be lavished with that kind of love even though I don't deserve it. A love I could never earn, a love I could never work hard enough to keep, and a love I could never live without.
#777 - Because He gives us a love we can't live without.
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:13
Comments
Post a Comment