2 Samuel 18:5 And the King ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.” And all the people heard when the King gave orders to all the commanders about Absalom.
With the preceding incidents of David’s kindness towards people who by all appearances he was justified in showing them wrath, this instruction to his commanders that they not harm Absalom isn’t so surprising. However, when Joab defies the order, and spears Absalom to death, David’s grief for his son ends up turning a day of battle into a day of mourning (2 Samuel 19:1-2). Knowing all that Absalom had done; killing his brother Amnon in revenge for his having raped Tamar, usurping the throne, sleeping with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel, conspiring to kill David, it then is a wonder that King David is so broken by the news of his death, and that he weeps as much as he does for that handsome rascal.
The Lord, likewise, has dealt with, and deals with us just as kindly and lovingly. The Pharisees often expected Jesus Christ to be hard and harsh with sinners, instead, he was so kind and so loving and so obliging with them it enraged these men of the cloth; ‘this man receives sinners and eats with them’ (Luke 15:2), ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner’ (Luke 7:39), they grumbled. The Lord speaking of Jesus, his chosen servant, through the Prophet Isaiah, proclaims: “He will not cry out nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoking flax he will not quench.” Now, of what use is a bruised reed? And who can bear a smoking flax with all its choking and inconveniencing smoke? Yet Jesus, instead of breaking the bruised reeds that most of us are, instead of quenching us with our interminable and intermittent faint burnings, instead of turning his face away from us despite our frequent and unending backsliding, he deals gently with us, showing us love that is wholly undeserved. “He will not always chide (like we do), nor does he keep his anger forever. He doesn’t deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust” (Psalms 103:9-10,14). How very beautiful! How exceedingly encouraging!
All this isn’t to say that God tolerates sin, or accepts it. Rather, it is but only the perfect expression of what it means to hate the sin but love the sinner. Seeing just how much we have been forgiven, ought we not to fear, and love; ‘forgiveness is found with Him, that He might be feared’ (Psalms 130:4), ‘he who is forgiven much loves much’ (Luke 7:36-48). Let us be grateful for such love, mercy, and kindness, and rejoice unceasingly for being recipients of it. We have a Saviour who will not turn away or cast-out anyone who comes to him (John 6:37).
Prayer:
Dear Lord, Thank you for your love and gentleness towards us. We deserved death but you have granted us eternal life through your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for forgiving us our sins, and for accepting us into the Beloved. May we always be reminded of such love and undeserved mercy. In Jesus name. Amen.