Humility – Page 9

Digging in Deeper: 2 Samuel 16:10-11

December 5, 2018December 6, 2018Leave a comment

“But the king said, ‘What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, “Curse David,” who then shall say, “Why have you done so?”’ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, ‘Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)‬‬

How do you respond when you’ve been cursed? Let’s broaden that out: How do you respond to a perceived insult? Do you immediately seek to respond in kind? Do you nurse a grudge that eventually becomes a sullen hatred? Do you begin plotting how you will get your revenge at some point in the future? Being insulted is tough. It’s even tougher when the person insulting you is someone over whom you have some measure of authority. That’s what David experienced. What would you do? Read the rest…

Resist Pride

December 3, 2018November 30, 2018Leave a comment

In this final part of our series, Pursue: Chasing God in a Godless World, we talk about the one thing that has the greatest power to throw us off the path to life. Having this thing in our lives is like having mold in our houses. It can grow in ways we don’t notice or see until we’re sick from it. What is it and how do we deal with it? Keep reading to find out.

Resist Pride

We had a rainy November,didn’t we? As the rain was falling a couple of weeks ago, I looked out at our swamp and we had more water standing in our yard than we did during Hurricane Florence. And, given that we had almost as much rain over those few days as we did in the bigger storm, I shouldn’t have been surprised. It still wasn’t the catastrophic rain they had not all that far east of here. The real problem from that amount of flooding isn’t just the floodwaters themselves. It’s what comes next. The North Carolina Baptists have and will continue to have disaster relief crews busily at work for the next 2-3 years to get life restored to where it was before Florence rolled through. It’ll take that long because the clean-up is hard work. You’ve got to go into these homes and demo and replace everything from the ground up to above wherever the final water line was. And you have to do all of that because of the threat of mold.

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Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 18:9

December 3, 2018November 30, 2018Leave a comment

“And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.” (ESV – Read the chapter)‬‬

What an ignominious end for a man of such potential. Absalom had the leadership gifts that could have made him a great king. He was able to inspire and motivate large groups of people and to unite them under a single banner. He became convinced that he would make a better king than his father had been and rebelled against him in order to claim the throne for himself. Had he been patient he would likely have received the crown anyway, but he wasn’t and so he didn’t.

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Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 17:7

November 30, 2018November 20, 2018Leave a comment

“Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.”” (CSB – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Good counsel is hard to find. The best counsel is rooted in reality, not what we wish would happen. It cares little for our heart’s desire, but understands fully the facts of the situation we are in or facing. It isn’t always going to lead us in the easiest or most convenient direction, but it will always point us toward the quickest way to our desired outcome. Indeed, good counsel is hard to find. It’s even harder to distinguish from counsel that’s merely flattering. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 16:3

November 28, 2018November 20, 2018Leave a comment

“And the king said, ‘And where is your master’s son?’ Ziba said to the king, ‘Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, “Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father.”’” (CSB – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Mephibosheth was delusional. It perhaps wasn’t obvious to anyone who saw him or interacted with him on a daily basis, but there was a delusion in his heart all the same. As long as it stayed there things were pretty good for him, but now that it had shown itself, the walls of reality were going to come crashing in on him. Hard.

Read the rest…