I just love how the Lord uses His Word to give me real examples of how He wants me to live. Although the whole big picture purpose of the Old Testament is to point the way to Jesus as The Messiah, I believe we can learn valuable lessons from the people with in the pages of this ancient book. David is a huge example, I mean, a guy after God’s own heart! I pray that this would one day be said about me-oh how I long that this would sum up my life!
So, in 2 Samuel 15-18, David finds himself betrayed by his son, Absolom. Absolom actually wants David’s place as King and goes after David’s life with avengance. The beginning of chapter 18 describes Absolom’s death as he was killed by one of David’s men. Be clear, not killed by David himself!
What really struck me is how David was so real and raw with his emotions. He mourned, like any father would, but was chastised by his top officials for this grief. Take a look at how David outright writhes over the very son who sought to kill him.
2 Samuel 19:4
The king covered his face and cried aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”
You can just feel the raw emotion and almost want to cry with David.
Here is the lesson the Lord gave to me: as followers of Christ, we MUST be real with our emotions and how we express them. We must be real with others, and more importantly, we must be real with God! David didn’t care that it was pretty much politically incorrect to mourn this wayward son of his. If we don’t show our true emotions to others, we might miss out on an opportunity to share how the Lord ministers and tends to our emotions. Thus, we can’t truly let Him in to tend to those raw feeling unless we are completely real with God. It all goes together.
The problem these days is that non-Christians think that we just try to be perfect. Oh how I wish this were not true. Too many of us put on that facade of “having it all together.” My whole philosophy is that if I show that I don’t have it all together and share something I am going through, then the Lord will use that situation to encourage someone else.
This past summer, after giving birth to my adorable son, I went through some major post partum depression. We are talking B-A-D. I felt so dark and alone. But, God led me to share this when I was teaching Sunday school. I had several of my friends come up to me saying how rare it was that people are truthful and outright about what they are going through. Oh I prayed so hard that one of those ladies related to my depression and was freed up to get real herself. In that situation, the Lord worked on my heart as well and started the healing process.
Get Real People! Putting on that mask takes too much energy and effort. Sooner or later, the real you will show up, and won’t people be so surprised! Oh no!
Take it to the Lord. He so wants to nurture your soul and use you to bless someone else. Don’t miss out on being a blessing!