The Well
The Well |
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Connecting Hope to the Hurting | |
Monday
June 9, 2008
During the battle, Absalom came unexpectedly upon some of David's men. He
tried to escape on his mule, but as he rode beneath the thick branches of a
great oak, his head got caught. His mule kept going and left him dangling in the
air. One of David's men saw what had happened and told Joab, "I saw Absalom
dangling in a tree."
"What?" Joab demanded. "You saw him there and didn't
kill him? I would have rewarded you with ten pieces of silver and a hero's belt!"
"I wouldn't do it for
a thousand pieces of silver," the man replied. "We all heard the king say to you
and Abishai and Ittai, 'For my sake, please don't harm young Absalom.' And if I
had betrayed the king by killing his son—and the king would certainly find out
who did it—you yourself would be the first to abandon me."
"Enough of this
nonsense," Joab said. Then he took three daggers and plunged them into Absalom's
heart as he dangled from the oak still alive.
2 Samuel
18:9-14
At last, Absalom's anger is ended, but so is his life. God included anger in our emotional system for a purpose, but not to destroy the lives of other people. Jesus expressed anger when He saw the injustice done to oppressed people coming to make their sacrifices in the temple. The business people told them that their sacrifices weren't good enough and made them buy what they had to sell. When Jesus saw this taking place, He turned over their tables in anger, but He didn't kill them.
This story of the anger that ran in David's family as a result of sexual abuse is very sad, and can be used as a wonderful example for us. We must let go of the anger and resentment of what happened to us. We literally need to place everything in God's hands and let Him work it out for us, in us, and through us.
Our anger doesn't hurt the other person ¾ it hurts us. God wants us to experience joy, real joy, and the only way we can do that is through forgiveness. If you read the Old Testament you will quickly discover that forgiveness wasn't something taught then. Jesus reminded His followers, "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.' But I say, don't resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too." Matthew 5:38-39
Heavenly Father, I thank you for protecting me from my own anger and from ending up dangling in a tree. I praise you Father because you sent Jesus to hang from a tree, that Old Rugged Cross, for me. I receive your love and give you permission to wash me with Your forgiveness. I choose to forgive those who abused me and I trust that one day you will allow me to experience genuine emotional freedom from all of this pain. I do love you Father and want to please you with praise.
