Monday,  May 26th  (Memorial Day)


Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address  "the world will not long remember what we say here today.."   Little did he know how famous that the few words from his heart that he scribbled onto paper before stepping onto the stage at Gettysburg would become.   It's possible that what will be most remembered about us is not what we planned to be remembered for, but something entirely different.    Maybe I should be mindful of that.   I wouldn't want to be remembered for something I said carelessly.


Reading for today:  2 Samuel 19-21


Two things jump off the page at me.   The treachery of Joab and the brutality of the Gibeonites.
David must have sensed that Joab's heart wasn't right.   He did kill Absalom after all, and he knew that the king did not want him harmed.    I suspect that Joab thought that he knew what the king needed more than the king himself did.   I sometimes have a similar discussion with God.   I try and convince Him that I know what He needs, in spite of what He has already told me to do.   It's just that sometimes what God says doesn't seem to make sense.   I feel the need to reason with Him...try to get Him to see it from my perspective.    I'm so glad God is patient and understanding.   I need to learn not to be like Joab.


It's not the request of the Gibeonites that bothers me as much as it is that God saw what they did and seemingly looked with favor upon it.    This appears to be one of those times that I want to reason with God.   "Lord, taking the life of an innocent person isn't going to accomplish anything"   But for some reason God is satisfied with this.   The lesson I take from it (setting aside  the brutality and seeming injustice of it) is that "the sins of the father are visited upon the children"   I need to remember that my actions have consequences, and while I could be convinced to suffer the penalty of my sins in my own body, I could never be agreeable to have them visited on my grandchildren.    I will do whatever God wants, so that they may grow up in God's favor.   He will be present with them after I am gone.   My most prevent prayer is that they will be friends.    Actually, both of my grandfathers were godly men, and I suspect that whatever favor I enjoy with the Lord is partially due to their faith.    I relish the thought of passing that along to my grandkids.