Mentorship: Is It Important?: 2 Samuel 14:25-33

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Good morning, good morning, we talked, not do good morning. Good morning to you. Nice nice, thank you. Yeah, you usually don't add that. That's great, that's great. We're getting into it. Get in the studs. Hey, welcome to the Bible Guys. We are starting off with a segment that has a jingle. It is our only segment that we get to sing, and it's so this is. Such a good one too, and it might be our best jingle. Yes, and here it is. We're going to be doing mail bags. Okay, well, hey, what you still from Blues Schools? It was super sophisticated. So we're trying to model our show after only the finest, yes, finest prom and so Blues Clues is right at the top of our viewing list, so. That's blue. Yes. So anyways, hey, this is a great one. Yes. We have so many card and letter that have come into our mail bags, and the email and text have come in. So this is a message from Christina M. And she says Hi. Well, first of all, Hi Christina M. Hi, Christina, I can't miss saying hi, thank you for and I know this is amazing. We do appreciate anybody who writes in and pays attention. And I'm telling you she has I think a great thought here, Yeah, what's your go to karaoke song? And can you give us a preview? And then she gets really honest and she says, I'm just trying to get Chris to sing some more. Ha ha. Oh, Then that's appropriate that I started with good morning. There you go, you're saying good morning. So I'm just going to come out and say, I have never, ever, one time in my life done karaoke. What I know. I knew that, so I have no I have no go to song. But even though I knew that, I still say what. I know what? It's the back of the throat. Not just a regular what. This is a serious this is a whisper what. That's right. So there's the what, and there's the what, and then there's what. By the way, how could you? How's that possible? How could you? You've never been to a party or gathering. I never have. I don't get in. That's that's a boring guy. I've never been I've never been. Karaoke I'm gonna ask you serious questions. Leave when karaoke starts, stop. Stop listen. I'm gonna ask you serious questions. And this is true. This is you have to be truthful. Have you ever been in a situation where someone whether it's even at a church, whatever, where there was karaoke and you had a choice whether to volunteer to go up and sing karaoke or you had a choice to not to have you ever. Come on, I've never been in a room. I've seen it. I've seen on TV shows where like there's there in some kind of restaurant or a club or a bar or something, and there's a karaoke thing there and people go up and there's I've seen that. I've never I've never had an opportunity. It was for me. I've been in places where we were eating and then karaoke started and I got up and left. Okay, okay, all right, so you have. Them, well, not where it was an opportunity for me. It was I was eating here, didn't know karaoke was a thing here. It starts over there, and before the song's done, we've left. You just you just like stop in the middle of your meal. Yeah, Well, yeah, we we just yeah, but it's only been like once or twice. I'm not how many places that car came. The stake just came to their singing run. I only eat a sophisticated restaurant. The kind of places you eat at versus the kind of places they eat at maybe are two different, two different things. Well, I grew up in clubs and stop. Prayers doesn't have kaoke, right, Yeah, you said you hang out at truck stops, and well that is, by the way, karaoke. That is true when I was in high school. This is totally off topic, and there's nothing wrong with we would we would. We would go to truck stops and drink coffee. Even in high school. I would do stuff like that because you know, you sort of grew up around it and everything. Anyway, the point is is that there. So I've never never been around and never had the opportunity to do karaoke. Okay, they have so much anxiety about the idea. Since we're going to wrap up, since we're going to wrap up this, we got to wrap it up. You sing it. I will give you a preview of what I because I do have a go to believe or not yes, of course. But I have to ask you this, if you did, if you did have a karaoke song, what would it be. I've never contemplated this though. Well I'm asking you to contemplate it now. No, I don't have a go to song. Just no, you got to sing a song. Let me think about it while you're singing. Okay, So anyway, here's mine. I would say I've done karaoke maybe, I don't know, not very many times. Maybe fifteen, yes, fifteen times, yeah, maybe twenty maybe at the at the max. But I always like the one that goes I've got friends in low place. Yeah, yeah, because it says what does it say? I have to have the lyrics in front of me but in low places? You know? Yeah? Because I I like it. I like it because it is like it is. I'm a blue collar guy, and I know it has the whole bar whiskey thing to it, right, But that's not the part that I necessarily cling to. I I like the idea that with Garth Brooks. First of all, I love Garth Brooks. But Garth Brooks is saying, uh is that he sort of uh puts his guy. Yeah, he puts his he snubs the the people who snub him because he. Subs the people who don't eat at places they have carry. R right, because he's a blue he's a blue collar guy. And so anyway, that's that's why I like it. And I like it. How at the end there's guys that go yeah, and the whole thing, you know, and then usually the crowd joins in I've got friends, and then the whole crowd sings it. So that's my go to song. That's great. I still don't know that I can think of a of a song I would try to sing I'm having troubles. Well, I bet you if you thought about it, there's an easy song, right, I mean, come on, who's Who's Who's like a pop song to you? Oh my goodness, you. Go see we got a little bit of it. But she wanted to hear you sing. Do you see this? This isn't about what Jeff would sing. So I'm going to draw a line in the sand on this episode and say, I'm just trying to get Chris to sing more. Okay, she would have you rather have you sing your A and B go to songs and to hear me sing any songs. That's what I'm trying to say. Yeah, so so I looked at the lyrics. It starts off and it goes blame it all my roots. I shoot up in boots, some laughing when I'm saying it ruined your black tie affair. Yes, last one to know, last one to show. I was the last one you thought you'd see there. Okay, I saw the sur fear in your eyes. I am so sorry, listener, So sorry, listeners, that's pretty sure. You sing too many more words and we're gonna have to pay royalties on this. You know, really that might be a thing. That might be a thing. Okay, let's move on, all right, Okay, so that's it. Well, hey, Christina m thanks for bringing that up. Let Chris, just you know, just indulge in all the glory of that one. And if this this, if this podcast gets shut down, well it might be your fault, That's all I'm saying, because we're going to be broke. We get sued for singing all the works. Really meaning, thanks Christina. Thanks? Okay, Well good, did you get that out of your system? Yes? I had nothing in my system yet, I'm just trying to play along. I was asked this, this was forced upon me. This wasn't my choice, Okay, So man alive. There is just no way to even pivot from no. Not really, especially since well the Absolom gets reconciled to David. Yeah, you're right, there's no roots. Yeah, there's no transition. Yes, So David brings Absolom back into town. If you've missed any of these other episodes, you should go back and kind of catch up on the Absolum stuff here. But they were separated because absolutely killed Amnon. Finally, Joeb convinces David to bring Abslom back, and so he brings it back, but he won't see him. He refuses to even look at his face, right, right, And so then in second sam to chapter fourteen, verse twenty five, we'll pick up there. It says now Absolom was praised as the most handsome man in all Israel. He was flawless from head to foot. He cut his hair only once a year, and then only because it was so heavy. When he weighed out, it came to five pounds. He had three sons and one daughter. His daughter's name was Tamar, and she was very beautiful. Absolom lived in Jerusalem for two years, but he never got to see the king, and then Absalom sent for Joeb to ask him to intercede for him, but Joib refused to come. Absolom sent for him a second time, but again Joeib refused to come. So Absalom said to his servants, go and set fire to Joeb's barley field, the field next to mine, And so they set his field on fire, as Absolom had commanded. Then Joeb came to Absolom at his house and demanded, why did your servants set my field on fire? Absinom replied, because I wanted you to ask the king why he brought me back from Giesher. If he didn't intend to see me, I might as well have stayed there. Let me see the king. If he finds me guilty of anything, then let him kill me. So Joeb told the king what Absalom had said, and then at last David summoned Absalom, who came and bowed low before the king, and the king kissed him. Hmm, well, there you go. Yeah, there you go. And and again it's just it's it doesn't give us a lot of insight about truly what David is feeling and thinking and why he basically shunned his son. Obviously he's angry. Obviously he didn't approve of what he did. But again, I have a tendency to believe, I really do. I have a tendency to believe that David wants to avoid it all because inside he knows he set this in motion. I really do. I think I think that inside he has so much turmoil stacked upon the you know, the the ruinous set of events that have happened in his in his children's lives, because he knows this was him all along. So I just have a feeling he didn't want to deal with it, and every time people wanted to talk about it or bring it up, He's just like, I just know, I don't want to deal with it. So it's what is it easier to do. It's easier to row yourself into other things, stick stick your head in the sand. You know, Hey, let me just spend all my energy being king. As long as I know that my son Absolom is say hey, I brought him home, didn't I he's over there. I give him. I gave him a house next to Joe Abs, which means obviously he's being treated well in a nice neighborhood. Yes, right, and so and so, Hey, that's enough. He's got everything he needs. Just leave me alone. Yes, and I honestly, and again, it's just interesting to me how there's really not that much insight. It doesn't say because the Bible will tell us, you know, Absolom was angry, or David was angry, David was jealous, David was you know, sad, whatever. But but there's no insight whatsoever. We just know that he refused to see him. And I have to believe there's inner turmoil going on in David's life about himself. But poor Absolom, so Absolom just he's so desperate that he doesn't get any you know, he's this refusal, he gets this shun. And by the way, keep this in mind, that's a public shun. Yes, everybody sees it. Everybody sees it because the king would have spent all of his time his the crown Prince would have been with him all the time. Yes, everybody knows, which means which means like, uh, now, now, Ebsolom is you know, his disgrace is being you know, amplified. It's public and uh and and he's so desperate uh, and Joe Abb doesn't know how to deal with it. Joeb has done all the things that he could do. Hey, he brought him back, didn't he? And and then uh and he sets far to abs field and then he's why did you do this? He's so petulant by the way. You know what, let's not look over the fact that his hair weigh five pounds. You know what that deserves? You know what that deserves? What? What? Not? A what? Because five pounds? Think about the biggest haircut you've ever seen. If you've ever had a child donate third hair? What the guy who played for the for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they had the long hair of it. Wow, that's a throwback. Yeah yeah, he's all yes, yes, yes, yes. He's on the head and Shoulders commercials, the old ones still now he was on last season, was he? Yeah? It was it was it was him and Patrick Mahomes. Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Anyway, anyway, the point the point is is I I've seen girls donate their hair to uh uh. A hair donating place. Yeah, come on, it's love love locks. Oh yeah, lots of love, lots of what a great Yeah, it's lots of love. And what they do is they have to grow over over twelve inches that you donated and then they use real hair to make wigs for those child cancer patients. Right, what great lots of love. And I know that people actually like they grow their hair specifically just four locks? Did she really? Good for her? Good for her? Anyway? When when you take all that hair and you that's what they do. They weigh it. It's like it's like an eighth of a pound, right, pounds? Five pounds. The only cut his hair because it was too heavy. Well, I think I think, first of all, if I had five pounds on my head, like that would hurt, right, well. That would have meant he'd ever really thick nick I. Also, I was so handsome. I almost wonder sometimes, you know, the Bible is pretty specific. If the Bible says five pounds, it means five pounds, right, that's correct. So so I almost wonder, like did that include like the beads. I don't know, right, maybe they had beads in there. Weighed two hundred shekels, right, well, there had to be beads in that two point three kilo because it. Allows for that, it allows for decorate hair decorative things maybe yeah, because yeah, so yes, otherwise you're a punzel. That's right, right, it's down to his ankles. That might be. I don't know. So yesterday, remember we struggled Crystal Gale for our listeners. Yeah, no, yesterday we struggled to remember the name of the person who was allowed to get vengeance for the family. Yeah you looked it up. No I did not. You remember it? Yes, I did? What is for our listeners? That was twenty four hours. It's not revenge for you and me. It was fifteen minutes ago. Yeah, it was not revenge getter. Yes, that's no, it's not. It's the blood avenger. Oh yeah, yeah it was. It's pretty close. So the blood Avenger. So if a family member was killed and there was no local justice available, then the family could choose one. It's not the whole thing. It's not this a big posse going out, you know for vigilantism. It was one blood avenger could go and bring vengeance against this person who murdered the other person. So Absolom probably was choosing that kind of loophole to give himself permission to kill Amnon even though there was government in his town, right, I think that's what he was doing. He's justifying, Hey, our law allows this. And this one of the reasons why I think David doesn't kill Absolom then, is kind of within our culture, there's this thing, this blood avenger, and that's what he did. And you know that that was a big part. I believe you can know that that was a big part of Absolom's sense of justice because the Bible mentions that he has a daughter and he named her Tamar, which is wonderful, which is the name of his sister who was abused by Amnon. Which shows his love for his sister. That's right, and it shows his elevated sense of justice. Here's a young man who has a strong sense of what is right and wrong, and he's missing out on David being a mentor to guide that strong sense of justice. He has an opportunity. David has an opportunity to nudge his son towards God, to lead his son, the future king, to God, to develop the relationship that David had with God, to really lean into the laws and the words of God, which, by the way, God says to Joshua, it's meditating on my law's day and night that will make you a success. David's success was directly connected that same thing. David knows these things, and he just keeps Absolom away. Yes, you can come home thinking that Absolom's motivation for wanting to come home was just to live in luxury. Again, Well, got news for you, David. He was already living in a king's house. Father. There's also a king right in another kingdom. Yeah, smaller, right, but but still it's not like he was starving. Right. Well, there's there's a there's a sense of uh, you know, when you're raised by a king, whether it's a large kingdom or small. Uh, you know, you still have importance, people, people treating you the respect. There's still things to model, there's still things to teach. And by the way, another lesson hidden in here is uh that even though that Absolom is a grown man and has you know, sons and a daughter and a house of for himself, that you never stop being a parent. You never stop being a role model. And in this case, job changes, yes, and and and so it's more peer to peer and and but David, and you understand that David has the role of father, but also of king, and also of mentor. So she's wearing all these different hats for Absolom, and he refuses to do any of them. And so it's just a challenge to us. No matter how you know, what age you are, it's never too late to you know, to fulfill the roles you know, no matter how old your kids are, you know you you still look to them by the way. You want you want some insight as to how my brain works, Yes, you want? I don't know, do we not? Really? Not really, because I'm going to tell you that even though I'm trying to think of all these godly sermons that come out of this passage, I can't get over the term blood Avenger. As I love Marvel movies and I'm thinking of the Avengers, and I thought, wow, a blood Avenger could be a character. And if an Avenger blood Avengers. Yeah, if an Avenger joined, who would be the blood Avenger? And I thought, well, you know who else is in the Marvel universe, which was the first Marvel movie really that was ever popular, which was Blade. He was a vampire, he would be the blood Avenger. So if Captain America would invite Wesley Snipes in to join the Avengers, he would be the blood Avenger. Okay, that's all I have to say about that. Okay, so it's in your head. Now, you get that out of you. I got that out of my system. Okay, yeah, I had back to the Bible. Back to the Bible. Sorry, back to the Bible. Yes, we should call our show that back to the Bible. There was a show called that back to the future. No, there there was an old radio show that had thousands of episodes called back to the Bible. Really huh oh oh? Is it the idea that we've strayed from the Bible and our generation should go. Back to as a Bible teaching radio program back. Like focus on the family, Like, let's put all the focus back on. The think out of back to the Bible came Do you know the little devotional books. Are daily bread of course. Yeah. Yeah, so that's where it came from. I'm pretty sure. Wow. So anyways, here's this guy who has so much, so many gifts absolum. He has his dad's gifts. He's handsome, that's what this highlighted thing about his hair and how tough he was, and everybody thought he was so great and and every young leader who has a lot of gifts needs to also be aware. So absolutely needed this too. To be aware. You need good mentors in your life, right, You need people to help guide you because otherwise what happens is you become really great at what your strengths are, but the greater and you and I've talked about this. Every genius has an equal and opposite corresponding deficit. Yes, because you and I are the way we're built. We only see one hundred and eighty degrees. We can't see all the way around. And so we've got a genius that's out here. He clearly is wired to be a leader of people. People just flock to Absolom, Even generals who see the danger of Absolom, go, we should bring him back, and let's just see if we can't make him a better guy. Right, And that's what's happening. The people love Absolom everything, and Absolom is starting to be aware of, Wow, these people really like me. Yeah, my dad's kind of a jerk. So instead of his dad pulling him in, his dad pushes him away. And so what happens is he starts to lean into his talents without building the character around him or a group of counselors around him that can point out his blind spots, and so nobody is telling Absolom about his blind spots because everybody's so enamored with his hair, his looks, his ability to communicate, and all these kinds of things, and so the trouble just keeps coming. Finally, too late in the game, David comes to Absalom and kisses him that though, was the beginning of an opportunity, but David still doesn't seize the opportunity, and we're going to see the consequences of that tomorrow. Yeah, and again, it's interesting how it doesn't give us any insight because it doesn't say during these two years, Apslom had built up a rage that's going to turn into rebellion. He doesn't say that, but later on in the story we realizes, oh, yeah, that's exactly what happened, right, So these two years were very painful. Yes, there was a lot of bitterness. There was a lot of rage, there was a lot of hatred, There was a lot of and probably because just like we just like we said, David could have handled it differently. He could have, you know, at least paid attention. I mean, he's so desperate, He says, I would rather him just kill me than ignore me, right, right, So so put him in front of me and fine if he if he if he passed judgment, he finds me guilty, then have him killed me. But anything is better than being in the kingdom being publicly shunned, and then not to mention the father wound that comes from you know, David reacting this way. So uh, you know. And and by the way, it does not say that David kissed him with affection, no, right, it says he went, you know it kissed him. But did he go through the motions? Was it was it? Was it half hearted? Was it cold? Was it you know, basically out of you know, what what kings should do or what is it? You know what expect? So again, it's just it's one of those things where we're sort of left to connect the dots. But it's not hard to figure out because of what happens, right, you know, what is about to unfold, We could probably agree between the lines. So when when there's greatness in front of us, and clearly Absolin had no other kings to look up to, it was either his dad or Saul, right, and my dad is amazing. When Nabslom was a boy, his dad was his dad was a giant killer. His dad was the one who unified Israel. His dad was great. And then when Amnon is dead, at this point he has a strong sense of justice. He kills Amnon. Now he's the heir to the throne. Even then, as a young man, he's probably looking at his dad, going, boy, those are going to be some big boots to fill. Sure. And then he comes to this point where his dad will not mentor him, will not encourage him, will not challenge him. And so at this point, now either he was going to grow up to try to fulfill the responsibility of the family. If David had raised him and mentored him, he would have had this obligation and responsibility to represent his father and his family well as the next king. Or David left Absolom with what Absolin felt was the only other option, That is to challenge my dad right, right, and I'm gonna have to square off with him. I'm gonna have to take it because my dad is not who I thought he was. Right, And this is what's going to happen tomorrow. We're going to get into you know, a full blown coup by absolomy. It's unbelievable. This was all avoidable, one hundred percent avoidable. What, yes, that's your new thing? Yeah maybe so you go, all right, We'll see you next time, hopefully on the bibble guys. H m hmmmm