David and Absolom

2 Samuel 19:1-8

David was overwhelmed with grief when his son Absolom was killed, even though Absolom had tried to kill David. But Joab, the leader of his army, took him aside and told him to basically get it together for the sake of his country of Israel.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this. Right now, this speaks very clearly to me about things that are going on in my family. An individual person has the right to their feelings, of love, sorrow, guilt, and tolerance, but a parent also has the responsibility to protect their children. It was innappropriate for David to forget about the rest of his "children", the children of Israel, in mourning for his traitorous son Absolom. He absolutely had the right to mourn his son, but not to abandon his country in doing so. Maybe I just don't fully understand because I am not a parent. But as a parent, how can you choose one child over another? If one child abuses you, and this threatens the others, how can you overlook that? You may want to sacrifice yourself for the good of that one child, but how is that noble when the others need you to take care of them?

Lord, help me accept and forgive. Help me remember that all I want to do is help, and being judgmental or critical helps no one but myself. Help me understand what I can do to help my family. I thought I knew what I had to do but now I'm not so sure.