2 Samuel 19 There is a time for mourning…

Two examples from real life. When my father died, within the hour my aunt had cleaned out the closet, his dresser and changed the sheets on the bed. I was distraught but her words remind me of what Joab said to David. He is gone, he will not return,  and now it is time to move on. That was one of the hardest and saddest times I have ever experienced. Then again, I have a widowed friend whose life echoes this chapter. Her husband died and yet she kept clinging to his effects for 7 + years. It was as if he stepped out of his office to get a cup of coffee but never returned. His desk, his closet, all of that which were his remained. She could not part with them but finally a dear friend took over and cleaned out the office, his closet and other personal effects.  David acts like this widowed friend. He mourned after Absolam until Joab comes to move him to mourning to acceptance. We all need aunts and friends who help us in our mourning and sometimes it is the hardest step but the most profitable. If David had not gone to the city gate to the people, Joab’s words would be found to be true. The people would not have come alongside David. 

Where are you mourning excessively? What is God saying to you? Remember what David said at the loss of his child with Bathsheba. “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Perhaps the Lord will show pity and the child will live.’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back at this point? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!”[2 Sam 12:22] David seems to have forgotten these words now as he mourned over Absolam.