Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 19, 20 & 21

It’s amazing what a little turnaround will do. David had a turn of good fortune when Absalom was ensnared by his own hair. Sure, David grieved his son’s death, but it also meant that he could once again claim the crown of Israel. With that good fortune came a lot of friends. Suddenly, the guy who had thrown rocks at him was begging for mercy. Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, who had stayed behind before, is now claiming that he intended to support David all along, but had a servant who deceived him.

David is now everyone’s best friend. It’s amazing what will happen when you have a little power, a little authority – a little control over the situation. Now that David is king again, people are stumbling over themselves to let him know how highly they think of him. It had to have been extremely frustrating for David.

I’m reminded of the story of Jesus who, toward the end of his life, rode into town on a donkey while being praise by the people of the town. Those same people, just a few days later, would call for his crucifixion. It seems that even Jesus, the Son of God, couldn’t escape the power of “group think.” Far lesser individuals have been the victims of this kind of problem throughout history.

For you and I, we may experience this phenomenon with our jobs, our church families or even our biological families. When one person or a group of people like us, then everybody likes us. But when we’re on the “poo poo list,” we see all of our support vanish. It is in that moment that we wonder if there is anyone in the world who just loves us without thinking of their own interests.

There is. His name is Yahweh. He’s the one who we can be sure doesn’t have ulterior motives. He’s the one that will be there when everyone else has abandoned us. Even if we feel like we don’t have a friend in the world, we have him. And he’s a good one to have!