Our Pastor is presenting a series on "The Beatitudes" from Matthew 5, today's point was from the fourth verse which begins: "Blessed are those that mourn. . . ". He said that of the nine words that could have been interpreted as "mourn", Jesus chose to use the most severe - a word that was also used to describe the grief that Jacob expressed when he learned the news that his favored son had apparently been killed by a wild beast
It went along with an idea I was hoping to write about ever since I encountered again the story of David and his estranged son, Absalom in the book of 2 Samuel.
As it relates to leadership, the story presents a warning that home is where leadership matters first. A man that once held great influence over my life said to me that when he got to heaven, he believed that the first question God would ask him was "what did you do with the wife and family I gave you?". That statement has often served as a grave reminder to me to keep first things first.
David - despite his failures - was a man of great heart and that heart was driven by a passion for God; but the example he leaves us as "father" leaves something to be desired.
Absalom's story takes its place next to the tragic stories of Saul, Samson and Judas Iscariot. I think Absalom made his own choices and turned out to be rebellious and evil - yet David, is not without guilt.
When Absalom declared himself king, David had two choices: he could face his son in battle and defend his own right to the throne, or he could retreat.
David retreated. Confrontation seemed to bitter to contemplate.
As the story unfolds, a major battle is mounted in Ephraim and David followed the sound advice of his loyal servants and stayed out of it.
The battle took place in the unlikely setting of a forest and it was said that the forest took more lives than the battle.
At one point, Absalom's trademark - his heavy mane of hair - got caught in a tree and his mule ran out from under him. He was - for a time - suspended between "heaven and earth". In this purgatory of vulnerability, I wonder what went through his mind. It just saddens me to think that he may have been bitter to the end.
Joab - a bloody henchman whose first priority was always to protect his king- ignored David's last order before the battle . . . "deal gently with the youth". . .
Joab saw that the only way to quash the rebellion and to save lives from further bloodshed was to kill Absalom and he did so without hesitation. The battle ended almost immediately.
When David was informed of the victory, his first question was of the safety of his son.
I wonder if he was ready to talk now. . . did he think that he might be able to visit him in some damp dungeon and make things right?
When the messenger let the other shoe drop and told him his son was dead - David's anguish erupted immediately into loud weeping and mourning.
All of his faithful soldiers that had just hazarded their life for him, now tucked their heads in shame.
David covered his face like a school boy and trudged away crying out "Oh Absalom, my son -my son!!".
What a pitiful ending.
That was the picture that passed before my mind as my Pastor talked about that deep sense of loss that Jesus said was a path to "blessedness".
In this series, he has pointed out continually that the path that God uses to get us to a state of being happy or "blessed" - often looks very different from what we expect.
Sometimes when we find ourselves in a state of deep mourning over some loss - maybe a loved one; but maybe its just a job or some material thing we value - that may be just the thing God wants to use to take us to His state of comfort and true blessedness.
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