While waiting for my watch to be fixed in a Jeweller’s shop, I struck up a conversation with the young saleslady. I had seen the shop owner’s commercials on TV and was interested to know what he was like in person. “He’s a great guy,” she said. “But he is not much of a salesman. When he visits his stores, he brings a box containing his original sales equipment…his sales demonstrations are something from the long-forgotten past.”
I hesitate to be too hard on her. I was no different in my youth. I also thought that anything more than a few years old needed updating. I too had little understanding of the time and effort invested into building a successful business.
King David had put his heart and soul into building a powerful kingdom for God. But his son, Absalom believed it needed to be modernized. And, in his mind, being handsome, resourceful, and popular were credentials enough to justify a coup d’état.
Absalom would learn the hard way that his new sales pitch lacked depth at every level. How could his good looks, cunning, and popularity compete against the faith, bravery, and wisdom of the great King? Absalom was no coward, but even he should have thought hard before crossing his cousin Joab—David’s army commander.
King David had something from his youth that Absalom dismissed in his: “An unflinching respect for that which God ordains!”
David had every opportunity to kill his predecessor, King Saul. Few would have criticised him for doing so, and fewer still would have blamed him. But David would rather have died than to harm the Lord’s Anointed.
This was not about Saul. It was solely about David’s respect for God’s will. He was going to honour God’s choice, even though that choice wanted to kill him.
Young Absalom was the son of a man whom God used to change the world. He could have been one of them, too.
John Staiger