Betrayal, Heartbreak, Curses and Dirt

So your day goes something like this: you receive word that your talented and charming son is on his way to town to forcibly remove you from your job and kill you if necessary; you grab what you can and leave town with the few friends you have left and on the way you meet up with a man who tells you that the one person you had shown extreme kindness to has turned his back on you; not too far down the road an opportunistic critic shows up to accuse you, curse you and "put you in your place"; and as icing on the cake, the same man follows along throwing rocks and dirt clods at you.

This was King David's situation on the day Absalom implemented his rebellious plan. The story is fascinating, and even more incredible is David's response to the events as they unfold! Like Christ, he doesn't speak a cross word to his accusers or allow violence towards his aggressors.

I've never had anyone out to kill me, but I've certainly had days (or a series of days) when circumstances piled up on each other like wrecked cars on a foggy freeway. You wonder why some of the "junk" couldn't be spread out a little thinner. Like David, we arrive at the end of the day exhausted. The key is that somehow we also do what David did, and refresh ourselves. I'm fairly certain that what David did at the end of that horrible day was to find solace in the LORD, as he had done on so many other occasions. For David, for us, the hymn rings true: Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, great is Thy faithfulness!

Postscript: To get the full understanding of the part of Mephibosheth in this story, you have to read 2 Samuel 9 and 19:24-26...