The Right Fight

Two years later, when Absalom's sheep were being sheared at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, Absalom invited all the king's sons to come to a feast. He went to the king and said, "My sheep-shearers are now at work. Would the king and his servants please come to celebrate the occasion with me?" The king replied, "No, my son. If we all came, we would be too much of a burden on you." Absalom pressed him, but the king would not come, though he gave Absalom his blessing. "Well, then," Absalom said, "if you can't come, how about sending my brother Amnon with us?" "Why Amnon?" the king asked. But Absalom kept on pressing the king until he finally agreed to let all his sons attend, including Amnon. So Absalom prepared a feast fit for a king.  (2 Samuel 13:23-27 NLT)

My dad used to have a saying: "Locks only keep the honest people honest."  After fighting in World War II, serving as a uniform police officer, and excelling as a homicide detective; I can see why he would recognize the dark side of people.  He wasn't trying to be cynical - just recognizing that if someone really wants to break into your car and take the wallet in the driver's seat, he will break the window.  Door locks won't do a thing.

Most crimes are committed in a person's mind long before he or she acts upon it.  Even if the specifics of the crime aren't rehearsed, we allow the seeds of the crime to take root in our mind and blossom until it overflows in our words and actions.  That's what happened to Absalom.  He spent two years letting the seeds of anger and bitterness take root and become full grown: mature.  He had hatred in his heart.  He was ready to kill Amnon for raping his sister.

Absalom told his men, "Wait until Amnon gets drunk; then at my signal, kill him! Don't be afraid. I'm the one who has given the command. Take courage and do it!" So at Absalom's signal they murdered Amnon. Then the other sons of the king jumped on their mules and fled. As they were on the way back to Jerusalem, this report reached David: "Absalom has killed all the king's sons; not one is left alive!" The king got up, tore his robe, and threw himself on the ground. His advisers also tore their clothes in horror and sorrow. But just then Jonadab, the son of David's brother Shimea, arrived and said, "No, don't believe that all the king's sons have been killed! It was only Amnon! Absalom has been plotting this ever since Amnon raped his sister Tamar. No, my lord the king, your sons aren't all dead! It was only Amnon." (2 Samuel 13:28-33 NLT)

Most people look at me a little strangely when I teach "bad box" classes about our minds and hearts.  They wonder why I struggle with frustration when those closest to me openly, consistently defy God's design for our lives.  They don't see what I see.  The battle needs to be fought...and won in our minds and hearts.  That way, seeds of evil don't have a chance to grow - ending up in no place good.

Meanwhile Absalom escaped. Then the watchman on the Jerusalem wall saw a great crowd coming down the hill on the road from the west. He ran to tell the king, "I see a crowd of people coming from the Horonaim road along the side of the hill." "Look!" Jonadab told the king. "There they are now! The king's sons are coming, just as I said." They soon arrived, weeping and sobbing, and the king and all his servants wept bitterly with them. And David mourned many days for his son Amnon. Absalom fled to his grandfather, Talmai son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. He stayed there in Geshur for three years. (2 Samuel 13:34-38 NLT)

David didn't fight the battle in his mind.  It poured out evil on Bathsheba, Uriah (her husband), and David's children.

Amnon didn't fight the battle in his mind.  It poured out evil on Tamar (his half-sister) and Absalom.

Absalom didn't fight the battle in his mind.  It poured out evil on Amnon (killing him) and David.

I pray that I will fight the right battles in my mind - throwing away any hint of evil and dwelling on the good.

I pray that you will fight the right fight, in the right place, as well - so that you may be a source of good wherever you go, too.