Deep Compassionate Listening. Second Samuel 19-20; Acts 12

May the mumbling commence!

After spending the afternoon studying deep compassionate listening, the argument the people of Israel had at the return of David as king seems to be missing in feuding sides listening to one another.  Read from Second Samuel chapter nineteen:

But the men of Israel complained to the king that the men of Judah had gotten to do most of the work in helping him cross the Jordan. 

"Why not?" the men of Judah replied. "The king is one of our own tribe. Why should this make you angry? We have charged him nothing. And he hasn't fed us or even given us gifts!" 

"But there are ten tribes in Israel," the others replied. "So we have ten times as much right to the king as you do. Why did you treat us with such contempt? Remember, we were the first to speak of bringing him back to be our king again."

The argument continued back and forth, and the men of Judah were very harsh in their replies. (Verses 41-43)

He said.  Then, he said.  But no one was listening.  Compassionate complaining was what reigned.  I wonder how David responded.  The Scriptures do not tell us.

The men of Judah could not see the desire of the other tribes to honor King David.  The men of Judah had a selective memory that forgot that the other tribes called David back to be king first.

The men of Israel could not see the desire of close kin to welcome David back.  They could not see that the men of Judah did not get any recompense from David for their treatment of him.

Neither side was willing to look at what else needed to be done and to share in those activities.  Harshness ruled the day.  How sad!  And harshness rules our day as well.  When will we learn to listen to one another?  When will we seek to understand someone else rather than only demanding that we be understood?

It is the largest blemish on all of human history.  And when we try to correct it, we often over steer and get into worse trouble.  Read from Acts chapter twelve:

Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod's country for their food. They made friends with Blastus, Herod's personal assistant, and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them.  The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, "It is the voice of a god, not of a man!" 

Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people's worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died. (Verses 20-23)

When we seek peace with someone else, we still shouldn't lose sight of neither ourselves nor our enemy.  If we try to oversimplify and artificially sweeten the relationship, we will run the risk of poisoning the relationship even further.  The first thing to remember in any try for peace is keeping our relationship with God in the forefront… and remembering to give all glory unto God.

Let us seek to understand before being personally understood.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out