Today’s reading: 2 Samuel 13:20-39
David’s family situation is a mess. Amnon has raped his half-sister Tamar, Absalom (Tamar’s brother and Amnon’s half-brother) now hates Amnon and is set on getting revenge for Tamar, and David who is “angry” about Amnon’s actions does nothing to address and make right what has taken place and completely disrupted his family. It’s an ugly, dysfunctional family scenario to begin with, and it only gets worse as a result of David’s failure to properly deal with the situation.
Once again, there are numerous lessons for us from this passage–parenting, anger, revenge, relationships. But the main lesson that stood out to me was how David’s lack of action serves to make a bad situation so much worse. Rather than stepping directly into this tragic situation that has taken place between his children, David chooses to stick his head in the sand. The result is that Absalom’s hatred grows and festers, and ultimately leads him to murder his brother.
Based on this passage and your own experience, why is it important to address conflict and hurt within your family sooner than later? What about conflict and hurt in situations with friends, at work or at church? Tami
Source: Tami’s Blog
