A hilarious moment from our ride back from Early, Texas last night. Trae and I were talking about what she wanted to be when she was big. Her answer? "Daddy, I want to be a girl preacher." We talked a bit about that and I asked her, "Honey, have you ever seen a girl preacher?" She said, "Yeah, Daddy. Mrs. Marla (Carter) is a girl preacher!"
What Trae meant was she wanted to be a VBS Coordinator and talk to the puppets and participate in the skits before VBS. It was a great moment!
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Last night, I was blessed to speak at the Early church (now that looks good on the resume -- being able to say I preached for the "Early church"). Those one-shot opportunities are always difficult. What do you speak on? What do you share in a one-shot speaking opportunity?
Last night, I walked through the tragic story of Ahithophel. Ahithophel was the trusted advisor of King David; a man whose advice was "like that of one who inquires of God" (2 Samuel 16.23).
But when Absalom, in a coup attempt, rebelled against his father's throne and David was driven from Jerusalem, Ahithophel turned on David and hitched his wagon to the rebellious Absalom (see the story in 2 Samuel 17). Ahtithophel advises Absalom on two fronts: (1) Absalom must publicly humiliate David, which he did; (2) Absalom must allow Ahithophel to personally deal with David, which he didn't. When Ahithophel's counsel was rejected -- and realizing the amazing "bounce-back" history of his former boss, King David -- he went out and hanged himself.
But why? Why did Ahithophel turn on David? And why did Ahithophel want to take such dramatic action against David?
For this reason: Ahithophel was the father of a man named Eliam who was the father of a woman named Bathsheba. Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather. And some eleven years after David's sin with Bathsheba, Ahithophel is very bitter and sees in Absalom's coup an ideal opportunity to get even.
Ahithophel's tragedy reminds me of the boomerang effect of bitterness. The person who harbors bitterness and holds on to grudges ultimately destroys not his enemy but himself. Someone has said, "Bitterness is the cause of our headaches, our backaches, our stomachaches and our heartaches."
The solution? "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4.31-32).
