The Quandary

So what we have seen in the last couple of posts from 2nd Samuel 19 is that Judah and Israel have themselves in a quandary in that Absalom is dead and they have run David off, so how is Israel and Judah going to get out of this mess that they find themselves in? Well, David is going to help them, let us look here in verse 11 and following: 11 Then King David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house? 12 You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’ 13 Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be commander of the army before me continually in place of Joab.’” 14 Thus he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.” 15 The king then returned and came as far as the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal in order to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.

The first thing David does is makes sure that Judah is with the rest of Israel in wanting him to come back. Israel has decided they want David back as king but Judah has been quiet on the issue which is strange. This is like winning a landslide victory and losing your home state. Judah is his home tribe and he has not heard anything from them on him being king. Everyone but Judah has declared their desire for David to return to the throne. You have to wonder, why not Judah? Maybe they were afraid, because they had been forefront in Absalom’s rebellion. Regardless, David shows his humility and forgiveness as he tells them he does not want to do this without them. Talk about forgiveness and humility – this is such a great example for us all. Do you live with forgiveness and humility like this? We all should!

David calls on his two friends who are priests, Abiathar and Zadok. These two are good friend and David sends word to them and says, “Why haven’t I heard from you? I’m sure not going to come back without you all being involved in this.” So he is helping by getting everyone on board before he steps back into leadership of the whole country. He is not rushing into anything – again a great example for us – how are you at being patient and allowing things to develop?

The next thing David did was to replace Joab with Amasa. Amasa is the guy that led the battle against David because he was the leader of Absalom’s or Israel forces. He is also David’s cousin and from Judah. He is taking over as the command of the army with a track record of one loss, no victories. The guy he is replacing, Joab, had a string of victories over thirty years and it appears he never lost a war. Joab is a seasoned military genius and has just finished winning the biggest battle of all which was giving back David the kingdom. Now you have David replacing him with the guy he beat. It seems so strange. We have to ask, why is David doing this? I believe that most likely, David has by this time heard the whole story of how Absalom died and that Joab thrust the spears that killed his son so he is demoting him. I do not believe that to be the only reason because I think it also a political move in that it was to offer a gesture of reconciliation to the former supporters of Absalom in Judah.

The results are seen in verse 14: Thus he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants. What you will see with this move will be short term positives but some long term negatives, but for now it does though bring David back to control of the country.

Again remember that David wisely does not try to take the kingdom by force but rather waits until he is asked to return. He had already had to face a rebellion and he knew that if the people did not of their own free will ask him to again reign over them as king, that any attempt to force them would only result in a further rebellion. By waiting until he was asked to reign again as king, David acted as a type of Christ figure. Jesus will not force His rule over any person against their will. People have to ask the Lord to come into their life before He will come and rule over them and be their Lord. We have to by our own free will allow Jesus to rule in our lives. Have you allowed it? If you have – have you pushed him off the thrown and started living life selfishly again? Allow Jesus on the throne or to come back to the throne of your life! It will change your life!

Have you ever found yourself in a quandary like this?  How did you get out of it?  What do you think of David replacing Joab with Amasa?

Feelings: the engine or caboose?

Continuing on in 2nd Samuel 19 that we started in the last post – here we see that David is in fellowship with the Lord. Look at verse 8 and following: ⁸ So the king arose and sat in the gate. When they told all the people, saying, “Behold, the king is sitting in the gate,” then all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled, each to his tent. ⁹ All the people were quarreling throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, but now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. ¹⁰ However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now then, why are you silent about bringing the king back?”

In the last chapter David says, “I’ll go fight with you” and his troops respond by saying, “You better stay here and don’t go.” Then David says, “Whatever you say I’ll do it.” That was David’s teachable moment and it is what happening again. You can tell when a man or woman is in fellowship with the Lord because they are sensitive to the godly counsel of others and they are teachable. What we see again is that David is teachable. He was humble enough to know that he needed to listen to what Joab was telling him. He needed to get out and get with the people and encourage them for their bravery and courageous fighting.

I am sure David did not feel like doing this. His feelings most likely told him to keep mourning and remember all he had lost. Yet David let his understanding of what was right be bigger than what he felt. Feelings make a great caboose but make a terrible engine. Never let how you feel, keep you from doing what is the right thing to do. The teachable person knows this and lives it out. Do you allow your feels to drive your life? Allow what is right to drive you!

Judah is David’s home tribe but here in these verses it is Israel in the north that is talking and they are talking about bringing David back as king. There is a movement throughout the land as we see in these verses to put David on the thrown again. Here is something interesting and that is that David does not immediately march back to Jerusalem because he preferred to wait until he had been invited back to the throne from which he had been driven away from.

I believe that in David’s life he has learned many lessons and here is a great lesson that David has learned and is now living out. That is; when you hurry and take matters into your hands you always harm and hamper God’s ultimate purpose for your life. When you are most eager to act is when you are going to make the dumbest mistakes. So David does what we need to do sometimes and that is: just wait. Remember that most of the time, time is on your side, so do not rush. Whether it is making some major decision with regard to business, life, parenting, school, or whatever the decisions maybe; stop, think, pray and wait to make sure of what you are to do. When you were under stress and you make a whole bunch of decisions all at once, what happens? For me, the decisions are mostly made in the flesh and they are wrong creating painful consequences for me. Be teachable in life and pray and wait on the Lord.

David has learned his lesson of trying to do things on his own. We do not see him make too many mistakes in his life from this point forward because he becomes much more patient with himself and with others and listens to God. Instead of trying to make things happen, David is now waiting for God to have things to happen. He has learned to be teachable. Have you learned this lesson? Have you learned that forcing things to happen creates more struggles than it helps? Be teachable, be patient, and wait on the Lord as Psalm 37 says!

We see here that the people in all of the tribes of Israel were in a quandary after the death of Absalom.  They had supported the rebellion against David however their rebellion had been squashed when Absalom died and now what do they do? They know now that the Lord was not in this rebellion and they cannot undo the decisions that had been made and what had been done, so where do they go from here? Here is the thing, in their hearts, the people realized now that all along David had been the king that the Lord had placed over them.  However, they had offended David chasing him into exile.  How could they ever get their rightful king back after all that had transpired?

Think about this, they only seemed to want David back after the false king Absalom failed. We often only decide to bring back Jesus into our lives when we fail at life on our own. We get full of pride and think we know it all and go off our way and make ourselves the king of our life and when we do – we mess things up. When we make a big mess, we then say – I guess now that there is a mess I should run back and put Jesus on the throne of my life again. I understand it is normal in our flesh to do that but how much easier would life be if we just simply allowed Jesus to rule and sit on the thrown all the time instead of going off and putting ourselves there? Let us learn to keep Jesus where he is supposed to be, in the driver seat of our lives with us in the backseat.

How are you at having your feelings as the caboose rather than the engine?  Have you ever gotten in a hurry and hampered God’s ultimate purpose?  Anything else in this post that you want to comment on?

Confronting a Friend

Personal note – I will be out of town celebrating 20 years of marriage to my bride this week.  I am a blessed man and looking forward to it just being my wife and I enjoy life together for a few days.  I have blog posts set for  today through Wednesday.  I will not be responding this week at all – although with the busy schedule and trying to focus more on other ministry and family areas my responding to comments has been minimal.  I will do what I can when I return but make no promises.

In the last few post we saw David and Absalom his son go to war against one another. In the battle between David’s forces and the army of Israel, there was some good news and some bad news for David. The good news for David was that his forces won the war and the bad news was that Absalom, his rebellious son, lost his life in the battle when he got caught by his hair in an oak tree and Joab killed him by running three spears through him.

As we left the story in the last post, David was beginning to mourn the death of his son. The problem that we will see today is that David is mourning so badly that everything else in his life has stopped completely. Have you ever been there? Felt like it is not worth it to go on? You cannot take another trial and another one comes? You begin to ask, why this? Why me? Why now? God are you there and do you really care? This is the point that David is at now. This chapter begins his restoration to the throne and the last phase of his life because he lives only ten more years after the death of Absalom.

Let us jump in 2^nd Samuel 19:1 -7: Then it was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourns for Absalom.” ² The victory that day was turned to mourning for all the people, for the people heard it said that day, “The king is grieved for his son.” ³ So the people went by stealth into the city that day, as people who are humiliated steal away when they flee in battle. ⁴ The king covered his face and cried out with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” ⁵ Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines, ⁶ by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you. For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. ⁷ Now therefore arise, go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, surely not a man will pass the night with you, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”

What we see here and what we saw at the end of chapter 18 is deep grief on the part of David because of the death of his rebellious son Absalom. Remember when David’s son he had with Bathsheba died and his reaction? At that point he prayed for the baby while the baby was alive, but when the baby died, David got up, put on clean clothes, washed his face and went to worship. This time, David covered his face so that he could not see anyone else. This time he is crying so loudly so that he could not hear anyone else. This time he made a wall between himself and everyone else with his grief. This time is different because with the baby David made the statement that nothing he could do would bring the baby back, but he would go to be with the baby someday which meant they would see each other in heaven. So just maybe here, David knows Absalom’s spiritual state and that he may never see him again. I am sure Absalom’s evil actions broke David’s heart and helped push his mourning. Just maybe there is part of this grief that is David’s own guilt about how things turned out and how he lived and parented. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been so broken because of the choices you have made in life? David will not stay at this too point too long and neither should you but it takes a teachable spirit to move from this spot in life. Too many get stuck here and never move.

Again, think about the life David has lived in the last several years. David is a broken man because he has lost everything that he cherished. He has lost his throne, he was driven out of Jerusalem, and he has lost it all to a son who rebelled against him and if you go back a little bit more you see he lost a lot more than this in life. The truth is that all this can all be traced back as results of David’s sinful choices. David now has lost sight and been blinded by grief and I believe guilt. David is stuck and he can either be teachable and get better or be hardhearted and get bitter. The same choice is ours in life – be teachable and get better or be hardhearted and get bitter – which will it be for you?

We see here that Joab hears of the king’s weeping and mourning for Absalom. It should have been a day of great victory for the army and instead it has turned into a time of national mourning. David’s excessive sorrow made his loyal friends and supporter feel ashamed they won a great victory. Instead of coming in with the confident joy of victory, the men had to sneak into the city like they are ashamed of what had happened. David should have met his soldiers as they returned from the battle because they had been brave and loyal. David should have praised them even in his time of personal loss. But by David’s reaction, they felt guilty about Absalom and thought David did not care about them or the victory they brought him. What we are seeing is that David in his grief is destroying things. He is destroying the morale and the loyalty of his men. We need to make sure that we do not do the very same thing in life by our actions, attitudes, and words. These things will kill the morale of our family, the church and community when we do not acknowledge and celebrate victories and acknowledge other’s achievements! This attitude is devastating for people and it will be for David’s army if not confronted.

Joab is going to confront David on what he is doing with his grief so that he does not lose everything. Joab has to do some stern and courageous talking with the king at this point, and he levels this charge at David: “Today you have humiliated all your men. And these are the men who have saved: your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, and the lives of your wives and concubines.” Joab tells him straight way what he is doing is wrong by reacting like he is and he is being ungrateful for what he has been given. Think about what he says: “You know David, the way you’re acting; it sounds like you would be pretty happy if Absalom were here and the rest of us had gotten killed out there and become casualties in war.” Joab does not mince words here! He tells David the truth but in love because David was going to lose even more than Absalom if this poor attitude and grief continued.

It really took a lot of courage and holy boldness for Joab to do this. Sometimes it takes a courageous friend to tell us the truth. Remember Proverbs 27:6: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” The reality is that here we see that Joab helped David through his grief and lack of gratitude and get back on target. Joab loved David enough to tell him the truth and confront his areas of weakness.

What we see is that Joab basically tells David to wash his face and dry his tears and get out there and unselfishly encourage his men. He then gives a very serious final warning: “I swear by the Lord that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall.” In other words, everyone is getting ready to leave David. Then Joab’s last words for David most likely really stung: “This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth until now.” Joab has been around and seen nearly all the calamities of David – so this is serious and he lets David know it!

Have you ever had to lovingly confront a friend with the truth in love?  How did it go?  Have you ever had someone confront you with the truth in love?  Did you make changes or not?

Tact.

These last few post have been looking at 2 Samuel 18 and what we can learn in this chapter to help us be better people and to be more teachable in life.  Let us finish this by looking at the last part of this chapter.

The war is over and now David needs to be told about Absalom his rebelious son dying – look at verse 19 and following: 19 Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Please let me run and bring the king news that the Lord has freed him from the hand of his enemies.” 20 But Joab said to him, “You are not the man to carry news this day, but you shall carry news another day; however, you shall carry no news today because the king’s son is dead.” 21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” So the Cushite bowed to Joab and ran. 22 Now Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said once more to Joab, “But whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite.” And Joab said, “Why would you run, my son, since you will have no reward for going?” 23 “But whatever happens,” he said, “I will run.” So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and passed up the Cushite.

Joab is trying to protect Ahimaaz by getting the Cushite to take the news to David because David has a tendency to kill the messenger who brings bad news. Even though they won the war there is really no good way of telling David that his son is dead. Ahimaaz is like one of those people who wants to be important and involved in everything but really had no reason to be but he annoys Joab to the point where he lets him run with the news after the Cushite and passes him.

Here is the thing – some people just want to be involved because they think it is their calling to be involved in everything that happens but that is not the case. People who want to be involved in everything either do not trust God or the leaders or they are just nosy – in any case it is sinful and wrong. There are people who are called to be involved in things and Ahimaaz did not have that call here.

Let us look at what happens: 24 Now David was sitting between the two gates; and the watchman went up to the roof of the gate by the wall, and raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man running by himself. 25 The watchman called and told the king. And the king said, “If he is by himself there is good news in his mouth.” And he came nearer and nearer. 26 Then the watchman saw another man running; and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “Behold, another man running by himself.” And the king said, “This one also is bringing good news.” 27 The watchman said, “I think the running of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.” And the king said, “This is a good man and comes with good news.”

So David is now waiting and expecting good news from Ahimaaz! Let us continue: 28 Ahimaaz called and said to the king, “All is well.” And he prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground. And he said, “Blessed is the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who lifted their hands against my lord the king.” 29 The king said, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant, and your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was.” 30 Then the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

So what do we see here? Ahimaaz for sure knew that Absalom was dead because Joab said it verse 20 but he lied to protect himself which was sinful! He also said “All is well” when he knew it was not for David. He took no time to figure out what he was going to say while running to tell the king – all he came up with was that there was a commotion and he did not know what it was. We see is Ahimaaz was a messenger without a truthful message. That is like many in the believers in Christ these days – they are messengers but yet they do not share the truth of message of Christ because they do not want to be considered closed minded and so they lie to people and show their lack of courage! We are to be sharing the truth of Jesus constantly and consistently with others! All of us are messengers – we are to share the truth message of Christ with all!

Here at the end of the chapter we read: 31 Behold, the Cushite arrived, and the Cushite said, “Let my lord the king receive good news, for the Lord has freed you this day from the hand of all those who rose up against you.” 32 Then the king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man Absalom?” And the Cushite answered, “Let the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against you for evil, be as that young man!” 33 The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And thus he said as he walked, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

The Cushite shows up and shares the whole message – even the painful truth. Since being in ministry I have had to be the bearer of bad news. Each time I prayed and thought and tried putting myself in the person’s spot who was hearing the news. I would do my best to say what I had to so that the person understood with the least amount of hurt – I wanted to tell the truth in love. That is what the Cushite did. Someone has defined “tact” as the knack of making a point without making an enemy. The Cushite had tact here – he was able to tell David about Absalom in a gentle way. Do you have tact? Can you make a point without making an enemy? We all need to practice having more tact with each other because tact is a part of being teachable.

How would you define tact?  Do you feel you have tact? Why or Why not?

A Hairy Situation

Yesterday we looked at a teachable moment for David and today I just want to keep looking at 2nd Samuel Chapter 18 because there are a number points that just helpful in life.  Look at verse 6 and following: 6 Then the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 The people of Israel were defeated there before the servants of David, and the slaughter there that day was great, 20,000 men. 8 For the battle there was spread over the whole countryside, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

We see that the battle has spread out across the whole area and many are dying and they were from Israel’s army. We see some are dying from the sword and even more died because of the dense forest. You see, God did not have to use the swords of David’s men to bring about victory – all he needed was the branches of trees.

Look at this is starting in verse 9: 9 Now Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. For Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. And his head caught fast in the oak, so he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him kept going. 10 When a certain man saw it, he told Joab and said, “Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.” 11 Then Joab said to the man who had told him, “Now behold, you saw him! Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? And I would have given you ten pieces of silver and a belt.” 12 The man said to Joab, “Even if I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, I would not put out my hand against the king’s son; for in our hearing the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai, saying, ‘Protect for me the young man Absalom!’  13 Otherwise, if I had dealt treacherously against his life (and there is nothing hidden from the king), then you yourself would have stood aloof.” 14 Then Joab said, “I will not waste time here with you.” So he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. 15 And ten young men who carried Joab’s armor gathered around and struck Absalom and killed him.

Now interestingly there are translations that tell us that it just was not the head of Absalom that got caught in the tree branches but it was his thick head of hair that got caught in a branch as his mule went under the tree and the mule kept going and Absalom hang there by his hair. There is irony in this because his hair was a source of pride – 2 Samuel 14:25-26 says: 25 Now in all Israel was no one as handsome as Absalom, so highly praised; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no defect in him. 26 When he cut the hair of his head (and it was at the end of every year that he cut it, for it was heavy on him so he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at 200 shekels by the king’s weight. A quick lesson in this is this: His hair was his prideful area and so for us, we need to learn that our areas of pride could bring us death and many times they do! What is that area of pride that you have? Become teachable and rid yourself of that pride.

The soldier who came across Absalom hanging there did not dare to touch him although it looks like Joab might have offered a reward to the one who killed Absalom. He most likely did not touch him because he remembered or has heard the stories of how David has killed those who killed ones like Saul and Ishbosheth who David did not want to die. So you have Joab the commander come and ignore the directive of David to go easy on Absalom and gets three spears and sticks him with them. Absalom has done some pretty horrible things in his life and now is getting paid back with a pretty horrible death. After he gets stuck with the three spears he then has ten young men come up and stick him with swords and kill him. Imagine the pain of hanging by your hair, then being speared, and then being stuck with ten swords – a horrible death!

This is a case with Absalom of sowing and reaping. He has sown death and destruction throughout his life and now he will reap death and destruction. A principle we always needed to be reminded of is sowing and reaping – what are you sowing in words and in actions? You will reap what you sow! The teachable person learns this lesson and lives it out in positive ways, they reap the positive.

What is a positive thing that you have reaped in your life?  Have you ever had really long hair and got it caught in something?

How Teachable Are You?

Let me as you this today:  how teachable are you?  As you consider this I want you to read this portions of Scripture: 1 Samuel 18:1-5: Then David numbered the people who were with him and set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. ² David sent the people out, one third under the command of Joab, one third under the command of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the command of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I myself will surely go out with you also.” ³ But the people said, “ You should not go out; for if we indeed flee, they will not care about us; even if half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us; therefore now it is better that you be ready to help us from the city.”  ⁴ Then the king said to them, “Whatever seems best to you I will do.” So the king stood beside the gate, and all the people went out by hundreds and thousands. ⁵ The king charged Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the king charged all the commanders concerning Absalom.

What we see here is David is getting his army ready to go to battle with Absalom’s army which is the army of Israel. Absalom is David’s rebellious son who has chased David out of the country and is now going to battle with David’s followers.  David breaks his army into groups under his three commanders so that they will be able to support one another and it all fits with David’s military plan. Remember David is a gifted military leader, strategist, and warrior. His age and problems have not changed this and you see at the end of verse 2 that David, who is now somewhere in his sixties, is ready to go out and fight with his army! He is ready to battle for and with his troops which shows what kind of leader he is and the lessons he has learned in his life. The people though tell David to not go fight but stay there in the city behind the wall. What they say to David is right because earlier there was advice given to Absalom, to which he did not listen too, which said if you just kill King David we will win this war right away because they will not want to fight without David leading them. Now these men are saying to King David, “If they would happen to kill you, it is all over. We would rather have you be support personnel in the city and directing things from here than going and being killed.”

You know that had to be a hard thing for David to hear because he was a warrior and man who wanted to lead his troops to battle. Now the question is; how does David respond to what he is being told? His response is a godly one. He says: Whatever seems best to you I will do. You can always tell where a man or woman is in their walk with the Lord by how teachable they are. When a person is willing to listen to counsel and be instructed and seek advice, you know that they are walking with the Lord. On the other hand; if they are grinding their teeth and fighting it and being stubborn and bullheaded, they are normally walking in the flesh and out of fellowship with the Lord. Being teachable is a sign of humility. Being teaching says that you know that others have more insight than you do at times in life. When you are not teachable you are saying to everyone else that you know it all. When you are un-teachable you lack humility and are full of pride. Humility is about others and pride is about self, what does your life and actions show?

Again I ask; how many of us would say that we are teachable?  Most of us would probably say “of course I am teachable.”  Some might give a list of Bible studies they have gone through and how long they have been in church and a Christian to prove it.  However, the unfortunate reality is that not everyone is teachable.  In fact, many people in our culture and even in the church remain un-teachable despite the numerous Bible studies they participate in or the years they have been a Christian or in church. They are all components to learning but they do not prove that we are teachable.  The only thing that really proves we are teachable is the fruit that comes from our lives.  If we are being taught by the Scripture then there should be spiritual fruit flowing out of our lives. Be teaching means – apt and willing to learn – regardless of your age. It means you hear the word of God or godly advice or counsel, accept what you hear, and you take actions on it. That is what we learn in Mark 4:20, which says “And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”  You see shown here that it is – to hear, to accept, and to bear or act.

Being teachable does not mean that we should just accept anything that comes our way.  We should be evaluating and testing out the things that we are taught which keeps us from being deceived.  Consider what Acts 17:11; “Now these were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.” We are to examine to see if things are true.

Being teachable is a mind and heart issue because being teachable has to do with beliefs which come from both the mind and heart. Our beliefs dictate most if not all of our behavior.  If we do not allow truth to enter our mind and change our beliefs we then end up being hardhearted and closed minded and not being teachable at all. By David’s response we see that he was completely teachable.

So how apt and willing are you to learn?  How teachable are you?  Are you getting better at being teachable?

How Do Leaders Lose Followers Hearts?

This post builds on yesterdays – if you missed it read it here.

David was Israel’s greatest king and Israel still became dissatisfied with him and let a wicked, amoral man steal their hearts in Absalom. How could it happen? I see that it could happen because of these things:

• It could have happened because David was getting older and I think he was becoming complacent in his leadership. I believe he was not following after God like he had before and it was taking a toll on what was happening in the country. Leaders need to be with God daily so that they do not become complacent. We are all leaders (We have influence over others which is leadership) so we must all meet with God daily!
• It could have happened because David’s sins diminished his standing among the people. David’s sins have brought him down a notch so to speak. He was no longer seen as the invincible leader that he once was because of his own sinfulness. Leaders need to make sure they are fleeing temptation when it comes because it will diminish their ability to lead.
• It could have happened because people like change and Absalom was exciting and David after being king a while probably has not brought new ideas to the people – he got stale. Leaders who have a fresh and vibrant relationship with God do not have to worry about being stale.
• I also think that with David it is quite possible that he was not leading at all because he had so much personal drama happening and the country was just coasting. Leading is something you have to actively do and when you coast you open up for others to step in and manipulate and lead people the wrong way.
• It could happen because Absalom was very skilled and cunning and people fell for his charisma. Leaders must pray for their people to see things for how they really are.

As a leader I want to avoid these traps that David fell into and I pray that you as a leader in your home or in the church or in your place of business or family or where ever it is that you lead, do not fall victim to these traps.  I pray that you remain fresh and vibrant in your relationship with God on a daily basis that you really lead and not coast, that you flee from temptation,  and you lead as God leads you.

What are your thoughts here?  Has one or more of these struggles that David had in his leadership ever shown up in your life?  Which one and what happened?

Manipulate or Lead?

I want to take some time and talk leadership.  I want you to take a few moments and read these verses form 2^nd Samuel 15 – 1 Now it came about after this that Absalom provided for himself a chariot and horses and fifty men as runners before him. 2 Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way to the gate; and when any man had a suit to come to the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, "From what city are you?" And he would say, "Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel." 3 Then Absalom would say to him, "See, your claims are good and right, but no man listens to you on the part of the king." 4 Moreover, Absalom would say, "Oh that one would appoint me judge in the land, then every man who has any suit or cause could come to me and I would give him justice." 5 And when a man came near to prostrate himself before him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. 6 In this manner Absalom dealt with all Israel who came to the king for judgment; so Absalom stole away the hearts of the men of Israel.

These verses can hardly be summed up better than to say that Absalom became a politician. He spent time among the people, promising them that he would give them what they wanted, if he were only king. He endeared others to himself by giving the appearance that he was a humble servant of the people and not an arrogant king who had no time for the little people. The people loved it; they loved him. With that Absalom managed to turn the hearts of the people away from David to himself but he did it through manipulation and not through leadership.

Absalom stole the hearts of the people. Absalom’s cunning campaign worked. He became more popular and more trusted than David.

So how does he do it? 

Let us take a moment and look at how Absalom does manipulated the people and how we as leaders should lead:

· Absalom carefully cultivated an exciting, enticing image with is chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. Manipulators know how to put on a show and make things look great. Leaders just do what God calls them to do – no show needed. Manipulators are great at making a scene and leaders lead.

· Absalom worked hard by getting up early each day – manipulation is hard work and manipulators many times are hard workers – just they are not working hard for the right reasons. They are working hard for their own ways and not Gods. Leaders work for God’s ways – not their own.

· Absalom knew where to position himself which was beside the way to the gate which is where everyone would be coming and going. Manipulators know where they will get the biggest audience and who will listen to them. Leaders lead and do not worry about the audience because if they are leading in God’s ways people will follow.

· Absalom looked for troubled people or anyone who had a lawsuit and He reached out to troubled people and they would hear Absalom call to them. Manipulators know what people to go after – troubled one – Manipulators many times are complainers and they find fellow complainers and they know how to get them to follow their ways. Leaders present the vision God has given and move forward – nothing else is needed when God is the center of it.

· Absalom took a personal interest in the troubled people by asking questions like what city are you from? Manipulators know how to get people on board – they have people skills – but you learn when you are taken in by them that they are not people you want to be around for very long. Leaders allow God to put people on board and the lead with integrity, grace, and humility.

· Absalom sympathized with the person by telling them your case is good and right one – you have a strong case here. Manipulators tell people what they want to hear but leaders tell people what they need to hear – two totally different things. Leaders tell people what they need to hear not what they want to hear. A hard thing in leadership is telling people what they need to hear but it has to be done – sometimes it cost leaders their jobs.

· Absalom never attacked David directly but would say that there was no one to hear you and he left the troubled person more troubled by having them thinking that no one was there to hear them. Manipulators make sure that they create a need for themselves while leaders create a need for God.

· Without directly attacking David, Absalom promised to do better by saying Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice. Manipulators make themselves the answer to the problems and leaders make God the answer to the problems. Manipulators say if people would just do it my way – Leaders say we need to be doing it God’s way.

Do you see anything else here that needs to be mentioned here with manipulators or leaders?

Who is the best leader you have been able to be lead by and what makes/made them such a good leader?