Seizing the Kairos! - Deal or No Deal!

Deal or No Deal!

Readings: 2 Samuel 18:1-33

This passage talks about how David was pursuing Absalom by sending out his troops to chase after Absalom and his troops. Absalom, David’s son, was a ruthless dictator and has opposed God’ s chosen king. Before David sent out his troops, he told all of his troops and commanders in charge to make sure that they will “deal gently” with Absalom when they met him. However, Joab, one of the commanders decided to kill Absalom and believes that his action was the right thing to do for the people of Israelites.

The reason why David asked to “deal gently” with Absalom is because David thought that Absalom is his own son. He believed that the best for his life and his family is to capture Absalom alive in hope for a great repentance from Absalom. Yet, it is all David’s delusion, thinking that Absalom could easily have changed. Worse, David’s decision to “deal gently” with Absalom actually hurting his position as the King of Israel because the people knew and understood that Absalom is very ruthless, terrorizing king, that would kill many people in order to get what he wanted.

Several things that we can learn from this passage:

1. One of David’s most fatal weaknesses is the inability to separate emotions from conscience. In order for us to become more like Christ, we have to exercise self-control and put our “decision muscle” into work everyday. Yes, it is the decision to choose Jesus and His Kingdom, despite what we feel about the situation and/or the commandments from God. Many Christians allow their feelings and emotions to take control of their spiritual life. Thus, we have so many baby Christian who decided not to grow up for the rest of their lives and choose to follow Him whenever he/she like it.

2. The first step to potential disasters for our own life is when we start to believe what is best for us, not what God thinks is actually best from us. We just have to learn to make the decision and always believe that everytime you look forward, God is with you , and every time you look above, He always give you wisdom and clear conscience to show you what to do and what need to be done. It is all about God’s agenda in our life, not our own Agenda in our own life.

3. Being consistent is very important in our daily life, especially when we lead people at work or at non-profit organization. Consistency will create reality in our life, because consistency will create the habit needed that would eventually become the characters in our life.

4. Don’t be surprised when God will allow our “right-hand commander” to make the right decisions instead of us due to our inconsistency in making the right decision according to God’s agenda.

-JH-