2 Samuel 20

(July 16, 2014)

                It is so easy for us to find ourselves in a destructive mindset when we see others as our enemies.  Joab teaches an important lesson here (one, I gather from reading the history that we have, he picked up from David over time).  Instead of seeking his enemy through destruction, and therefore seeing the city as the enemy, he sees Sheba alone as his enemy.  He is content to excise out the problem and leave the rest in peace.

                Do we fall short of that counsel in our dealings with others?  After all, we can easily consider that each of us is a city.  Within that city are some who are aligned with God (good habits and good intentions) and some who are opposed to God (bad habits, weaknesses, pride).  When we are confronted with the evil – especially when that evil hurts us directly and painfully – do we recognize that it is only a part of the city that is bad, and destroying the city to eliminate the part that is bad is evil in and of itself?

                I am currently facing a situation where I am struggling to forgive some very good people who are doing some very bad things which are causing me a great deal of hurt.  Some of my life’s ambitions and some of the most important things in the world and eternally to me are potentially being put forever out of reach.  It is so tempting to give myself over to the anger and the self-righteous judgment that I feel pulling at me.  But I have to remember that, like Abel of Beth-maachah, they are largely good but with an element of bad within them now that does not justify the destruction of the whole.  By keeping that in mind – by reminding myself how good the people are who are hurting me – it allows me to not be consumed by the anger and resentment that continually threatens me.