BECAUSE OF ABNER....

Hey there! 

How dost thou fare this fine day? I hope you're doing alright and that God continues to show Himself in your life. 

Welcome to today's gist. 

Last week, I read 2 Samuel 3: 22-39, the death of Abner. I'm going to attempt to give a summary of all that happened, you should check it out. So Joab, Abishai and Asahel are the three sons of a man called Zeruiah and in 2 Samuel 2:18-23, Abner kills Asahel. In Chapter 3, Abner has now decided to work with David and he came to visit David in Hebron; as soon as he left, Joab arrived from a mission David sent him and upon realizing Abner came to see David and David let him go without taking retribution for Asahel, Joab sends for Abner to come back and then kills him in revenge. The Bible tells us that when David heard that Abner had been killed by Joab, he began to curse Joab and mourn Abner: he tore his clothes and followed Abner's corpse to the grave, weeping and singing a dirge he composed for him. E for no too disturb me, if no be say we come reach one part of the passage where the Elders began to beg David to eat and he refused and everyone began to say that oh! True true, David was innocent, that the sons of Zeruiah were the ones who were responsible for Abner's death. After saying how evil the Joab and Abishai were for killing Abner, he still kept them in his service, and it got me thinking "why did David still keep these 'evil' men around him, trusting them to guard him?" And I just got the sense that all of this was just David "clout chasing". Now, this may not be your opinion and I understand as well as appreciate that but at that point, it felt to me that David was just doing theatrics to set the minds of the leaders at ease so that his place was king over Israel was secured because at the end of it all, Joab continued to serve David for all of David's rulership. And as I thought of what David did, I had to ask myself "how many times have I pretended to like or not like something just to get the attention or help from someone else?" And the answer is unfortunately, too many times! This taught me that while I'm trying to be at peace with people or work with them, or earn their regard, I must be careful not to lose myself or my values in the process. 

The next thing this story brought to mind is the fact that even after David has scolded and cursed Joab, he still was loyal to David. Later in 2 Samuel, the story is told of how David sent a letter to Joab ordering him to indirectly kill Uriah; if na me, maybe I for just carry the letter dey show everybody for Israel wey I meet. But Joab was loyal to David even to the extent of killing for him despite the fact that David had cursed him. Joab is the kind of man everyone deserves in their corner, someone who will stay true to you and stick with you no matter the fights and disagreement you have, someone who will truly and really be your "gee". And as we pray to get those friends, we should try to be those friends ourselves to those we love. Our loyalty to our friends should be one that would withstand disagreement and fights, our friends should be able to take our words to the bank and cash it. 

I really hope this post makes the sense to you that it does in my head, and that it challenges you, and me, to be true to ourselves first before others, and to be loyal friends. 

Till next week. 

Love, 

Achenyo.