Day 155: Destructive Thoughts Destroy Life

Mark 5:1-20; 2 Samuel 13; Daniel 7

The man with evil spirits is healed. He wants to follow Jesus around, be close to him, stay in his holy presence. But Jesus says that that is not what this man should do. Instead, he should go tell his family how good God has been to him. Whether he ever makes it to his family or not, I don't know. He goes instead to the city and shares about Jesus. So often we, too, want to simply follow Jesus around--going to church, summer camps, conferences, bible studies. There is nothing wrong with those things, but we cannot live our lives at bible study, nor is that what we are called to do. Jesus sends this man out to share what God has done for him to those around him. It would have been much safer for this man to stay with Jesus. Jesus told him to go, take a risk, live his new life among the world, and share his story so that others may know the power of Jesus.

The story of Tamar and Amnon is so sad. Here, this sister is trying to help her brother, who she assumes is actually sick. She had saved herself for marriage, something that determined a woman's value in that day. Amnon thought he loved her, but his deception, power, coercion, and ultimately hate, has nothing that is even related to love. Many people live in destructive relationships everyday. Love has nothing to do with deceit, or overpowering, or forcefulness. May God protect and rescue people who are in those relationships. Amnon hurt both himself and Tamar long term. For what? For a few minutes of his pleasure. He doesn't realize it at that moment, but he has sealed his fate. Hatred breeds more hatred. It doesn't fix things.

What I also find interesting is David's parenting. He gives in to Amnon's request. Didn't he find it just a little fishy? Then when he finds out about it, he doesn't discipline Amnon for fear up upsetting him. (For goodness sake! The man is a rapist! Ground him at the very least!)  Then, when David is invited to Absalom's party, where he could have protected his son, he declines, is absent, univolved. So he gives in to Absalom's prodding and sends Amnon. Amnon gets killed. I can't say I'm terribly sad about that. I don't think that is the way God wanted it to happen, but I'm sure Absalom was so frustrated at this point that no one had done anything to protect his sister.

But, the truth is Absalom and Amnon are not that much different. Amnon's lust and hate drove him to destroy a life. Absalom's hate and anger drove him to destroy a life. That just shows how powerful those emotions are and how incredibly powerful sin is. We need to be careful. Each of these terrible things started with a thought. These men thought and thought and eventually it manifested itself into action. That's how sin creeps in. We need to make sure that we are cognizant of our thoughts so that they do not lead to horrible things.

Daniel's vision is crazy! It has to do with end times. If you haven't read the Left Behind series, I would recommend it. They turn these prophesies into fiction. But as Daniel shares, there is going to be destruction and pain. These are beasts, not bunny rabbits. However, God is going to send HIS King to defeat and rule, and THAT is the hope that we look forward to.