We are all just one phone call from our knees. I remember when I received word about Virtus Gideon, my professor at seminary. Later, we heard news about the bus crash that claimed Melanie’s mom’s life. From whom would you most like to hear bad news? Someone you know and love, or a stranger.
In David’s day, the messenger business could be lucrative. For instance, if you brought good news to the king, you might receive a great reward. On the other hand, we saw with Saul’s death, bringing bad news to the king might prove fatal.
Ahimaaz wanted to tell David the battle with Absalom was over. Joab sent a Cushite instead. But Ahimaaz outran him. When he told David the battle was over, all the king wanted to know about was Absalom. Ahimaaz wisely refrained from answering, mumbling something about confusion. The Cushite answered David’s question by suggesting that Absalom had died, and so should all the king’s enemies.
It’s counterintuitive. If Absalom were alive, David would have never been safe. But Absalom was not only David’s enemy. He was his son. David wept in agony calling out his son’s name. “If only I had died instead of you.” That option had been available. David’s response caused his men to feel shame for defending his life against Absalom. They won but felt like they had lost.
David’s love for his son was so much like God’s love for the world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . .” Paul said of the Israelites he would give up his salvation if it would mean they were saved (Romans 9). Calvin Miller preached a sermon called, “The Evangelist as Rebel-Lover.” He said if we loved God’s enemies enough to wish we would die instead of them, we would have a better chance of winning them to God.
We rebels certainly need to be loved. I remember a popular Christian song that said, “God loves people more than anything. More than anything, he wants us to know, God would rather die than let us go. God loves people more than anything.” Well, he does. Do we? Let’s tell them the good news. God loves rebels back to life.
