2 Samuel 14:21-27 – An Open Door?
David lets Absalom back. But he won’t let him come into his presence. It’s a compromise. But it doesn’t last long. Once David has let Absalom back into the country, it seems inevitable that Absalom will end up back as if nothing had ever happened.
Often, whether in our personal lives, our family lives, our church lives, our national lives, there is something that we know would be wrong to do. So we don’t do it. But we open a door to it, which will make it easier for us to do the thing itself in the future. Are there sins that we haven’t yet committed – and yet we’ve opened a door which would make it easier to commit them in the future?
Once the door is opened, there’s only ever going to be one outcome. Once Absalom is back in the country, it’s not long before he’s back in David’s presence despite never having repented or faced any sort of punishment for the cold-blooded murder of his brother. But not to let him back, David has been told, would be an attack on God’s people themselves. That’s what the wise woman has said back up in v13. So David does the thing which he’s been told is the compassionate, tolerant, humane thing to do. But in doing so he’s letting a snake into his house. And very soon he’ll experience the dreadful consequences.
Stories are powerful things. The Bible itself is a story – a true story. A story it’s important to try and help people see. But Satan has his own story that he wants to tell. And often he uses stories to bypass peoples’ critical faculties. To get them to agree to things without thinking of the consequences. But the Bible has a better story to tell. A story where wicked sinners like Absalom – and like us – aren’t just let back into the fold unchanged. But a story where the great king himself gives up his life for his wayward children. And he dies for us, both to save us and to change us.
Questions
- Had Absalom repented?
- What is the problem with opening the door to sin?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would close the doors to sin that we open in our hearts and minds.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.