“For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light.” Psalm 56:13
Everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief. At the cost of twenty-thousand lives, the rebellion was over. But not everyone was celebrating. As we see in 2 Samuel 18, instead of shouting and dancing in victory, David walked away in great sadness. Despite Absalom’s open betrayal and effort to kill him, in David’s eyes, Absalom, “young Absalom,” was still his son and David’s heart ached at the news of Absalom’s death. While everyone else thought Absalom got what was coming to him, David was overcome with emotion and burst into tears as he cried, “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son.”
It was so hard for the men around David to understand his grieving heart, especially considering all that Absalom had done. To them, David’s tears were hurtful when they considered how willing they had been to fight for, and even lay down their lives for the king. What they couldn’t understand was the heart of a father.
Maybe only second to the story of the “Prodigal Son,” does this account paint the picture of our Heavenly Father’s heart toward you and me. No, maybe we’ve not committed the same kind of acts of betrayal as Absalom or the Prodigal, but we were all born in sin and iniquity. And, in spite of our sinful nature, actions and even attitudes, the Father gets no fulfillment out of seeing anyone get what they deserve. It can be hard with our natural mind to describe and comprehend. And when you consider that most any parent would be willing to lay down their life for one of their children, we see our Heavenly Father did the most painful thing He could do by giving His only Son.
John 3:16 tells us that because of God’s love for the world, a world full of sin and rebellion, He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for us all, so that we could have Eternal Life.
Today, we can rest in the truth that the Father’s heart is towards you and for you, no matter what.