David’s Remorse

Read 2 Samuel 16-18
 
2 Samuel 18:7 There the army of Israel was defeated by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great –  twenty thousand men.
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2 Samuel 18:32 “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you – O Absalom, my son, my son!”
 
DAVID mourns deeply for his son. It is a lament heard down through the centuries as we consider a father’s loss and a son’s rebellion. A broken family experiences the worst possible consequences. Then I wonder how David felt about the 20,000 men who had been killed and wounded? The civil war in Israel came from lust, revenge, murder and unforgiveness  in David’s household. Do you see how this tragic story began with David’s sin with Bathsheba?
    David killed a man to cover his own sexual lust. Absalom killed his half-brother, Amnon,  who was, like his father, guilty of sexual lust. Then David ignores Absalom’s murder of Amnon. Was, perhaps, David feeling guilty over his past transgressions? Was he feeling unworthy to discipline his sons? This is very possible. Guilt keeps us from doing right.
    Absalom rebels. Thousands die. Wives become widows. Children lose their fathers. A nation loses the gifts and strength of 20,000 fighting men who were to protect Israel from her enemies.
    Sexual sin is a black mark on mankind’s soul. Everywhere we look in the world, we  see people who are living broken lives because they come from broken homes. What happens in a home never stays there. The brokenness moves through families and our culture as a deadly cancer, destroying people’s lives and the community.         
    What’s happening in your home? Is there something you need to make right? Do it now before the wrong it kills and destroys.
 
Pause and Consider: that what we do always affects someone else.