{"id":34036,"date":"2025-01-02T22:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T05:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-samuel_18_19-33-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-12-25T00:52:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T07:52:57","slug":"2-samuel_19_1-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-samuel_19_1-15\/","title":{"rendered":"When You’ve Promoted the Wrong Person"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Samuel 19:1-15 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Samuel 19:1-15.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Samuel 19:1-15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, “The king is grieving for his son.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king covered his face and cried aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Joab went into the house to the king and said, “Today you have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now go out and encourage your men. I swear by the\u00a0LORD\u00a0that if you don’t go out, not a man will be left with you by nightfall. This will be worse for you than all the calamities that have come upon you from your youth till now.”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the king got up and took his seat in the gateway. When the men were told, “The king is sitting in the gateway,” they all came before him. Meanwhile, the Israelites had fled to their homes.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Throughout the tribes of Israel, the people were all arguing with each other, saying, “The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies; he is the one who rescued us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the country because of Absalom;
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and Absalom, whom we anointed to rule over us, has died in battle. So why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar, the priests: “Ask the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since what is being said throughout Israel has reached the king at his quarters?
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You are my brothers, my own flesh and blood. So why should you be the last to bring back the king?’
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.'”
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your men.”
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king returned and went as far as the Jordan. Now the men of Judah had come to Gilgal to go out and meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-15: \u00a0It was a complicated situation for David.\u00a0 On one hand, he had just lost his son.\u00a0 On the other hand, because that son had committed the highest act of treason and was bent on killing the king, David did mobilize his troops to go to war against that son.\u00a0 So while it was natural and expected for David to grieve for his son, it was complicated by the fact that Absalom was an enemy whose death, under normal circumstances, would have been a cause for rejoicing.<\/p>\n

To make the situation even more complicated, whenever there is a transfer of power in any government, there are many decisions to be made, much work to be done and communication that needs to happen.\u00a0 David did not have much time to grieve for his son Absalom, for he had to get to work and reestablish his throne.\u00a0 So his first order of business is to have himself reinstated as king, with the help of the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and with the support of all the people (v14-15).<\/p>\n

2<\/strong>\u00a0Samuel<\/strong>\u00a019<\/strong>:13\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my own flesh and blood? May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if from now on you are not the commander of my army in place of Joab.'”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 13: \u00a0David’s second order of business is to remove Joab as commander of David’s troops and replace him with Amasa (v13).\u00a0 Removing Joab as commander was a decision David should have made long ago.\u00a0 David should never have promoted Joab to become his number one commander, or at least should have removed him once he saw the signs that Joab was not fit to lead.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n

– The first clear sign was when Joab murdered Abner (2\u00a0Samuel\u00a03:22-39).<\/p>\n

– After that, David would notice other signs that Joab was far too cunning and deceptive for his liking (2\u00a0Samuel\u00a016:9-10).<\/p>\n

– Later on in the war against Absalom, David tried to lessen Joab’s role, putting only a third of his army under Joab’s leadership instead of 100% (2\u00a0Samuel\u00a018:1-2).<\/p>\n

Yet because David coveted Joab’s strengths as a leader, David never let go of Joab completely and kept Joab on far too long.\u00a0 This decision ultimately resulted in Joab killing David’s son against David’s orders.\u00a0 Indeed, removing Joab was a decision David wished he had made long time ago.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Have you ever given a position of power in your life to someone who should never have had that power?\u00a0 Whether it’s in romantic relationships, at work, on teams or in other contexts,\u00a0don’t wait until it is too late to remove someone you have wrongly placed in a position of power<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you wait too long, you and those dearest to you will end up paying the price for it.<\/p>\n

Even if it is painful, or even if removing that person means there will be a leadership void temporarily, sometimes removing that person (or making a major adjustment) is better than keeping in place someone who you know for sure is the wrong person.\u00a0 Make the adjustment soon.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for all the leadership lessons we can learn from Your Word.\u00a0 You are the greatest leader.\u00a0 I pray for wisdom to make right decisions, especially when it comes to dealing with people.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

opyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Samuel 19:1-15.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Samuel 19:1-15 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”
\n2\u00a0\u00a0And for the whole army the victory that day was turned into mourning, because on that day the troops heard it said, “The king is grieving for his son.”
\n3\u00a0\u00a0The men stole into the city that day as men steal in who are ashamed when they flee from battle.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0The king covered his face and cried aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-15: \u00a0It was a complicated situation for David.\u00a0 On one hand, he had just lost his son.\u00a0 On the other hand, because that son had committed the highest act of treason and was bent on killing the king, David did mobilize his troops to go to war against that son.\u00a0 So while it was natural and expected for David to grieve for his son, it was complicated by the fact that Absalom was an enemy whose death, under normal circumstances, would have been a cause for rejoicing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34036"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34039,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34036\/revisions\/34039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}