Thursday, August 24: “Love the Haters”
2 Samuel 19: 5, 6: “Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, ‘Today you have covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines, by loving those who hate you, and by hating those who love you. For you have shown today that princes and servants are nothing to you; for I know this day that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased.’”
I know they were family and lifelong friends, I know that Joab served his Uncle David with all his heart (or whatever was left of it after serving himself), but at times Joab could cross the familiarity line in a very big way. There was a big part of David that he just couldn’t get, although foreign rulers saw it clearly. It was the part of the king that was closest to God–the part that prompted him to love those who hated or opposed him. Joab never got that, and ended up alienating the king he tried so hard to please.
