The Absolom Way
2 Samuel 13-15
Dear Reader,
If I ever come to a place where I never stop learning, I will be so bored.
Really, bored.
Stagnant,
Stinking pond water, bored.
I have come to love the verse in Proverbs that says, It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. (Prov 25:2)
I’ve taken up sewing, recently. Pattern reading, however, is a challenge. I also find it is restrictive. That's probably why. I start to read and decipher the directions and than a common question invades..."what if..." What if I want a blouse, for example, that has a different kind of shoulder on it than the pattern calls for? How FUN to see if I can do it!
And yes, if you are wondering, I do waste a lot of material… and thread...which is why I recycle. The thrift store make money off me. LOL!
I once created a tote bag with so many pockets in it , that the pockets I had created to make it easier to find things worked against me. I am still missing a tube of lipstick somewhere...
However, it was totally worth it and fun to create.
Isn't that what we do though? Sometimes what we think is a good idea, isn't in the end a very good idea and we create more problems than we intended and something gets lost.
Scripture has become a fun bit of adventure as well. I’m trying to read the Bible cover to cover but my attention span gets in the way. I'm reading along, following the thought and then, SQUIRREL!
And I drift away as the possible situations that seem to illustrate an story in modern life. I try not to focus on one particular person or event, I keep it general because I don’t REALLY know what anyone’s motives are, and I would hate to be like David’s brother Eliab in 1 Sam 17 and assign motives to someone who didn’t deserve the characterization.
For example, my reading recently, I found that Absalom was a sneaky dude. He tried to disguise his sneakiness as “righteous” when he dealt with his brother, but really, Absalom intentions were fueled by arrogance (2 Sam 13-15). As I read the story, moments started invading about ways people can behave like Absalom.
For instance, have you ever noticed that some people only gain followings (be it friend groups or clubs or even ministries) by joining groups already in progress, sewing discord in the name of “transparency” (selective transparency) and then breaking off from the group and taking half the people with them who “felt the same way about the leader?”
Absalom…yep. Absalom stole people from his father’s kingdom to form his own work.
How weak. How sad for Absalom to feel he had to steal in order to build. Was the “short cut and deception really worth it? I wonder…Did he gain the power he sought? Not for long...read the story.
Shouldn’t it be, if what we desire to do is from God, there would be no need to engage in ungodly behavior like stealing to achieve it? I think so. I believe He equips us to accomplish the assignment He places on our hearts. And He certainly doesn’t provide by stealing form other believers and their assignments. That’s the devil, not God our Father.
In the story, Absalom's way of doing things resulted in receiving his just-punishment for his underhanded ways. I’m not there yet in the story to tell you the details, but I know the pattern of how God works. Evil doesn’t win, so I know Absalom won’t get away with his plans.
When my son was little he used to laugh (I can still hear him laugh) at the part of the story when Absalom got his hair caught in the tree…lol. So I know that is how Absalom meets his end.
Absalom's way may have worked for the moment, just as those who steal sheep have their moment in the sun that they sought in their own way. I also know it is probably constant work to maintain until, like Absalom, they can’t keep going and their true nature shows. For Absalom, it resulted in his death. For the modern examples, I know some fell away from the faith and some simply fell.
When we allow God, the Architect of our faith and His Plan for Humanity, to design and build the work assigned to us (be it large or small, long term or momentary) our only responsibility is to obey. The work will endure the time needed in the plan and will involve what he has already placed within us to accomplish our part. The work God assigns does not “wear us out” in the same way it would if we were trying to design or maintain something that He did not ask us to do.
If the assignment is wearing us out, that is not a sign of righteousness, that is a sign that we are adding more stress and wanting more control over the outcome than we are assigned to carry.
God assignments work together as a corporate work of His Church to push back darkness and administrate the truths of the Kingdom of God and to disciple nations. Everyone does their part in that plan. If the same Holy Spirit is in all believers, and He is, then our focus is on Him and where He is going. And He is not going in 30 different directions. He has one plan and with our focus on Him, then we will all walk and work in the same one direction.
What messes us up is when…
Our own speculations,
Our own pride,
Our own need to be “right” or “in charge” because we “know what is best,”
and our own personal search for significance, identity and purpose take a higher ground than our obedience to His plan.
Can we have our own desires and hopes? Sure! But they are not more important than someone else’s. We sometimes momentarily set aside our own desires to help another and sometimes someone else sets aside theirs to help us. Why? because of the Love of God within. Because we do not count ourselves more important than another. Believers in Christ are a TEAM; the Church is one body helping to accomplish the ONE will of God upon the earth.
Grace and Peace, dear Reader, may you spot any Absalom-type way before it steals from what belongs to another and may the discernment and the strategy of Lord regarding any such matter be clear. Most of all, may the peace of Christ that is yours in Him, continue to guard your heart and mind from taking on more responsibility than He has equipped you to carry.
Blessings
Anne
