God does for us, to us, and in us what we cannot do for ourselves.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” 3 Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” 4 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.” 5 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. 6 Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” It seems that every man that Absalom met in 2 Samuel 15-2-6 way was always innocent, always in the right. Funny how that was the case, huh? If a person was traveling through for other reasons, and they recognized Absalom as the king’s son and wanted to honor Absalom in some way, Absalom would first grab the man’s hand with a hearty handshake and pull him in close and kiss him. Today this might come in the form of a big bear hug and lap on the back. “No need for the formalities, my man! I am just good ole Abs!” You see what is happening here don’t you? These are political moves. This is the equivalent of a presidential candidate taking off his coat, loosening his tie, rolling up his sleeves so that he appears to be in touch and relatable with the working man. This is the equivalent of that great line by President Bill Clinton, “I feel your pain.” And as such, the text says that Absalom “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” We can read that phrase in such a way that we misunderstand it. When we hear that phrase, we may associate with it some type of affection or endearment, i.e. when a guy sweeps a girl off of her feet. We think of it as a type of metaphor. But the phrase is meant to be understood a little bit more literally.The text means that Absalom duped the men of Israel. When it says that he stole their hearts, it means that he was a thief and he deceived them. And we see that not only did Absalom steal away the hearts of the men of Israel, but he also stole away one of David’s most trusted advisors—Ahithophel. The passage ends with “And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.” What are we to make of all this? Well, in one sense, we knew this was coming. God said, “I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.” This is the fall out upon David for his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah that God promised. “I will raise up evil.” So in one sense, it is the discipline of God. But in another sense, this is evil. Absalom is rebelling against God’s king and kingdom. Absalom’s attitude and his acts are wicked. He has no regard for God at all, or God’s anointed King, or God’s people. This can be a tough knot to untangle, can’t it? It can be a mystery to us. Did God cause Absalom to be this way in order to fulfill his word against David? How could you hold Absalom ultimately responsible in this situation if God had said, “I will raise up evil against you, David.” Absalom was acting in accordance with his nature. His nature was sinful, and his sinful nature pulled him along the path of rebellion. There was not a moment when Absalom said, “God is forcing me to do something I don’t want to do!” No, these were the free choices of a man with a sinful nature. And it happened accordingly to God’s ordaining wisdom and power. But that brings up another question, doesn’t it? Who can possibly be saved if man’s nature is broken and bent towards sinfulness? If the desires are always twisted and sick, how could we ever have righteous desires in receiving Jesus and following Jesus? Well, we cannot. And this is what makes this gospel message so incredible. God does for us and to us and in us what we cannot do for ourselves, and He does it in a way that is does no violence to our wills. He opens our eyes to see the reality and awfulness of our sin. He opens our hearts to see the sacrifice of Jesus on the believer’s behalf as a gift of grace. He gives us a new heart so that we can respond in repentance and faith to His call to be saved and redeemed by Jesus.