To Encourage You

2 Samuel 15:4-6 “Then Absalom would say, ‘Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.’ And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”

The Bible tells us that every person on the face of the earth has a great enemy. Jesus called him “the thief (who) comes only to steal and kill and destroy”(John 10:10).  In John 13:31 Jesus calls him by another name, i.e., “the ruler of this world.” But he’s an illegitimate ruler, a usurper, a deceiver in every way.  So, how does he get so many people to follow him?  How can so many people be so deceived? 

To understand this better, perhaps we can look at another usurper of power, the man Absalom, of whom the passage above speaks.  The Bible tells us that Absalom, one of King David’s sons, was incredibly handsome. In fact, we are told that “there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him” (2 Samuel 14:25). Yet, he was as wicked as he was handsome.  First, he murdered his own brother. As a result, he went into exile to hide from the king.  It was during this time that he hatched a plot to take the throne from his father.  He would look for people who were in difficulty and if they promised him homage, he would promise them good things.  In the words above we hear him say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.”  In other words, he had nothing but good to say to them, giving them promises, but promises that were lies.  But the people liked what Absalom looked like, and they loved what he said. It was in this way that this usurper followed the ways of the ruler of this world. 

Satan tempts by making himself look so beautiful. He encourages us to see good as evil and evil as good (Isaiah 5:20).  He will tell us how good we are, and how we can be that much better if we will but follow him.  He does this through others who are following him, such as false teachers that preach soothing lies to people with itching ears (2 Timothy 4:3).  He encourages people to believe that health, wealth, and self-esteem are the greatest objectives of life, all the while working to rob these things from them as they so gullibly follow his schemes.  Meanwhile, as we again look to the story of Absalom, we see that those who followed the true king found themselves fleeing from Absalom, “destitute, afflicted, mistreated,” similar to the fate of so many who have in the past and are right now following the true King of kings (Hebrews 11:37).   To this present day it often looks like the usurper and his followers are winning and that his schemes will win out in the end.  We can become like the psalmist who looked at the wicked around him and said “they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind” (Psalm 73:4-5). It was because of this that he said, “my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” 

But then he comes to his senses, as he dwells on the truth of the true King: “I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! . . . Nevertheless, (i.e., no matter how things might SEEM) I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Like the psalmist, may God help us to follow the true King of kings, not the usurper, who like Absalom, cajoles us with wonderful promises, while all along he tries to rob us of everything precious and steal the hearts of men.