Being First

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

BEING FIRST

2 Sam 18:18-23

18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King's Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, "I have no son to carry on the memory of my name." He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom's Monument to this day. 19 Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, "Let me run and take the news to the king that the LORD has delivered him from the hand of his enemies." 20 "You are not the one to take the news today," Joab told him. "You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king's son is dead." 1 Then Joab said to a Cushite, "Go, tell the king what you have seen." The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off. 22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, "Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite." But Joab replied, "My son, why do you want to go? You don't have any news that will bring you a reward." 23 He said, "Come what may, I want to run." So Joab said, "Run!" Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite.

NIV

We want to be the one who tells the story first. However, before we get to that truth, we should deal with the self-edification of Absalom as he erected a monument of himself in the King’s Valley. How prideful to think that he was that important to deserve a monument named Absalom. We understand that some great men who have done deeds that have been considered worthy, after their deaths, have a statue erected to celebrate their lives, such as the Washington and Lincoln Monuments in Washington, D.C., as well as monuments to others elsewhere. But, to build one for oneself, while one is still living, is over the top in self-praise. We would never consider having any edifice in our name, as we are commanded to learn from Jesus, being humble and gentle of heart. Absalom was boasting about himself with that monument. We can never boast about ourselves, for we are not worth boasting about, but we can boast about the Lord, for He is worthy of as much boasting as we can do. Now, to this desire to be the first to tell the story, while the Cushite was given the task or right to relay news to King David, Ahimaaz wanted to be one, and in this narrative, he outran the Cushite. What we see here is the story of gossip. Over the years, we have witnessed this race to be the first one to tell what happened to somebody. “Did you hear?” Sometimes, the gossip had been disguised as a prayer request, “Oh, my, you really need to pray for”, and the race is on. Why are we so eager to spread news about other people? Don’t we have any words of encouragement for each other? Don’t we have any words to build each other up? Let us first examine our hearts to make sure we are free of pride, but full of humility, not wanting to be first, and that we only want to tell the “Good news” about Jesus.