Many stories from the life of David are well known (think 鈥淒avid and Goliath鈥�), but this less familiar story is one of the best.
David ruled Israel from approximately 1010-970 B.C. During that time, his son, Absalom, gathered an army of his own, rebelled against his father and declared himself king.
This, of course, put David in a bind. He could not allow the rebels to overrun the country and take the throne by force, but he did not want to see his boy harmed.聽Eventually, David sent his army out to fight, but he commanded them to not hurt Absalom.聽He was to be brought back alive.聽
Ultimately, David鈥檚 forces won, but, unfortunately, Absalom was killed in the battle.聽This sent David into such a deep depression that when the victorious army returned home, David was not there to greet them, thank them or celebrate with them.聽In fact, he hid in his palace and was not seen for days.
Eventually, Joab, the commander of David鈥檚 army, confronted David saying, 鈥淵ou have humiliated all your men, who have just saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters and the lives of your wives and concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. You have made it clear today that the commanders and their men mean nothing to you. I see that you would be pleased if Absalom were alive today and all of us were dead. Now go out and encourage your men鈥� (2 Samuel 19:5-7).聽
You have to admire Joab鈥檚 courage.聽It would not have been an easy thing to tell the king that he was acting foolishly and doing something wrong, but that is exactly what Joab did.
The best part of this story is David鈥檚 reaction: 鈥淪o the king got up and took his seat in the gateway鈥� (verse 8).聽
Did you get that?聽When David was told that he was wrong, he listened, admitted his fault and changed.聽David displays this same attitude in 2 Samuel 11 and 12.
In other words, David was teachable.
Everyone makes mistakes. Perfection is not an option.聽Therefore, the question becomes, 鈥淗ow do you respond when you are wrong?鈥澛燞umility allows our mistakes to become our teachers instead of our undertakers.
Spiritual maturity and growth is always preceded by a teachable spirit.
