10 “However, Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. Now then, why are you silent about bringing the king back?”
11 Then King David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, saying, “Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, ‘Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house, since the word of all Israel has come to the king, even to his house?
12 ‘You are my brothers; you are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?’
13 “Say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be commander of the army before me continually in place of Joab.'”
14 Thus he turned the hearts of all the men of Judah as one man, so that they sent word to the king, saying, “Return, you and all your servants.”
15 The king then returned and came as far as the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal in order to go to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.
2.Sam.19:10-15.
Perhaps we are, or we are not familiar with the background incidence of the above-stated Bible verses. This was the aftermath of the death of Absalom, the son of King David that rebelled against him and toppled his regime. This happened as a result of the sin of David, in which he snatched Bathsheba from her husband, killed her husband, and married her. He thought he could conceal his sin forever, but we know this is impossible, (in fact impossicant, as some people would say for emphasis) before the Almighty God.
Though David repented in true godly sorrow and he was forgiven; GOD however told him that the sword will never depart from his house, 2 Sam.10-12. So the seed of rebellion was set by GOD Himself in the lineage of David.
Absalom was a charismatic person and son of King David. He successfully toppled the government of David and many people followed him. So now Absalom is dead! And David needs to be restored to his throne.
How then does this story apply to us? If we sincerely do a thorough self-examination and appraisal, we will discover that like David we also need to bring the KING back and allow Him occupy His rightful position and place in our hearts. The question then is – How did we drive Him away in the first place? How and Why did we make Him leave? We do this in many ways such as:
- By willfully engaging in lifestyles of sin and other abominable acts we know our King truly hates and abhors; and cannot co-habit with.
- By walking in the flesh, and fulfilling the lusts thereof; and we know our God is holy and cannot behold iniquity.
- By incurring the wrath of God through immorality, adultery, fornication, etc. Despite the fact that God clearly warns us that He will personally supervise the destruction of anyone that defiles His Temple – our bodies; we still engage in these sins (1Cor.3:16-17). Thereby deliberately making God our enemy with fatal consequences that we treat like a joke.
- We often quote that Bible verse in Rev.3:20 – in which Jesus Christ stands at the door of the heart knocking … Perhaps here we think Jesus Christ is talking to unbelievers, NO He is talking to the Church, His Body, you and I. Often times, we don’t even recognise His Voice, we too readily shift our focus away from Him and are not careful to obey His Commandments. And we drive the King away.
- We have made ourselves other gods in various forms: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, love of money – thereby serving mammon, greed, gluttony, fashion, football, vanity of life, social media that does not glorify God, serving god of thunder and other beggarly gods, etc, etc
- By not making room in our hearts for Jesus, just like it happened when He was to be born on earth, Joseph and Mary were told then that there was no room at the inn. Even now, we are still telling Him there is no room for Him in our hearts.
So we need to seriously consider and examine our ways, ponder like David and speak seriously of bringing the KING back. We must first repent and confess our sins so that we receive forgiveness and mercy; and bring back the KING. After going astray, and wasting God’s resources; we ought to come to our senses like the prodigal son, repent and go back to our Father to make amends, and bring back the KING. It is time to break up our fallow grounds, sow in righteousness so we can reap in mercy, and bring back the KING. It is time to open up the door of hearts and let Jesus in and bring back the KING. We must be the first in God’s Vineyard, and not the last to bring back the KING. We must submit and surrender ourselves to be used of Him to turn the hearts of men unto God in genuine repentance and bring back the KING.
As we continue in the journey of this year, let this be our watchword that we must bring back the KING, and give Him no reason at all to leave His Throne in our hearts, home, and in all our endeavours.
Oluseyi Awokoya runs a Manpower Training & Development company in Lagos State.