Being Kissed

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

BEING KISSED

2 Sam 14:23-33

23 Then Joab went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem. 24 But the king said, "He must go to his own house; he must not see my face." So Absalom went to his own house and did not see the face of the king. 25 In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him. 26 Whenever he cut the hair of his head — he used to cut his hair from time to time when it became too heavy for him — he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard. 27 Three sons and a daughter were born to Absalom. The daughter's name was Tamar, and she became a beautiful woman. 8 Absalom lived two years in Jerusalem without seeing the king's face. 29 Then Absalom sent for Joab in order to send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. So he sent a second time, but he refused to come. 30 Then he said to his servants, "Look, Joab's field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire." So Absalom's servants set the field on fire. 31 Then Joab did go to Absalom's house and he said to him, "Why have your servants set my field on fire?" 32 Absalom said to Joab, "Look, I sent word to you and said, 'Come here so I can send you to the king to ask, "Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there!" ' Now then, I want to see the king's face, and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death." 33 So Joab went to the king and told him this. Then the king summoned Absalom, and he came in and bowed down with his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.

NIV

We have finally come to the place of reconciliation. That is the story here as Absalom bowed with his face to the ground before the king. David was Absalom’s father, but it is not recorded that he bowed before his father; however, he did bow before his king. We do wonder why we are told that Absalom had no blemish in him. He was a very handsome man, and that might give us a better understanding of his bowing before his king. It does not matter how good we look, or our well our financial portfolio looks, or our position in the body of Christ, or any other advantage we might think we have, we still need to bow face down before our King. There was reconciliation between David and Absalom; however, even with bowing with his face to the ground, it was the king who kissed Absalom. That would have required the king to raise Absalom up from his face to the ground to kiss him. We have been reconciled to God, and the story is the same. First, we must come to the presence of the Lord God Almighty, bowing before him, and accepting his grace, Jesus, as our Lord and Savior. Because we have bowed ourselves before Him, it is through the work of Jesus on that cross, He did all the work and reconciled us to Himself. It is a free gift, but we believe it comes to the one who bows before the King of kings, Almighty God. This takes absolute humility; there can be no pride, no self-righteousness, only bowing our face to the ground. Of course, we don’t physically do that, as Absalom did, but we must bow our hearts and minds, and maybe we should consider lying face down or on our knees, even if we have already been reconciled and our King has raised us up and kissed us. It is overwhelming  to think that our King has kissed us.