Doug Van Pelt

Broken Down

After turning the network printer and its computer on, I head into my wife's office, where all the back issues and merchandise are kept, along with files, our postage meter machine, and fax machine (to see if there are any faxes from overnight, such as advertising contracts).

King David had a problem with his son, Absalom. His brother, Amnon, slept with his sister, Tamar. Out of anger Absalom later killed Amnon. In 2 Samuel 15, we see that Absalom "steals the hearts of the men of Israel," kind of away from King David. Later he goes to Hebron to declare himself king there. David's reaction when he hears about Absalom's plot is to flee Jerusalem. It seems to me that David carried the burden of his sin. Maybe my perspective is wrong. I am just speculating. But instead of the warrior spirit that he so exhuded for most of his life, he cowered out of his own palace out of fear. What is up with that? I'm guessing that he somehow thought that he deserved this because of his sin. Maybe he was right about that, but I don't think we, as believers of the New Covenant, have to believe that any bad circumstance comes to us because we deserve it. Yes, there are consequences to our actions. Yes, bad things happen on this fallen planet (to so-called "good" people and so-called "bad" people), but if we repent and are forgiven our sins, we do not have to take a beaten down approach to life. Now, in some ways, the humility that's embedded inside that beaten down attitude is good. Humility, brokenness, and realizing that we are failures before God is a very good insight to have. But to broaden that scope into taking a "woe is me; I deserve this as punishment" attitude is excessive and an error (in my opinion).