Scripture

Our verse for today comes from 2 Samuel 16:11, ” And David said to Abishai and all his servants, ‘See how my son who came from my own body seeks my life. How much more now may this Benjamite? Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him.’ ” 

Background

I went to a 3-day seminar some time ago, and it turned out to be much more, and different, than what I had expected. Focused on leadership, the training turned out to be very personal, very inward looking. Based on the premise that real leadership begins with leading one’s self, I and the others were taken through a series of self-awareness and introspection exercises designed to help us uncover any negative false beliefs we had about ourselves that were preventing us from being who we could be and doing what we could do. The watershed moment for me came towards the end of the third day, when the leader walked me through my assessment. My point of focus for the weekend had become my dreams of having a family that was different, better, than the one I grew up in. But the unintended negative results that my style of parenting and leadership at home were producing had me fearful that I was inadvertently creating the very monster that I hoped to slay. He asked me what I wanted, and with a quivering lip I said, ” Peace. ” And when he next asked me what I would say to my wife and children right then if I could, I lost it. The guilt and disappointment and shame overwhelmed me, and I sat there crying like a baby in front of fifteen friends and strangers. Barely audible, I whispered through the sobs, ” I’m sorry. I love you just the way you are. You are so much better than I give you credit for. ” 

Application

My eldest son is 15 years, 364 days old. Tomorrow is a huge day in his life. My other five kids are roughly 20 months older than the next. I have but one wife, now for over twenty years. I love them all more than I can express. If I do not pour everything that I can into them, if I instead control and limit and belittle and criticize, what good have I done? How close to the very relationships I dread, where Absalom despises the life of his own father, am I treading? If you are not pouring out yourself on behalf of someone else, rather you are coercing and manipulating according to your own internal fears, my hope is that the Lord will send someone to speak to you. My advice is that you listen to Him. 

Charge

As we seek Him today, find that mirror, whatever or whoever it might be, and look and listen harder than you ever have before. God has much in store for you. 

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words