The love of a father for his wayward son

The New Testament calls David a man after God’s own heart. If ever a man faced difficulties and yet kept his focus on the Almighty, it was the shepherd lad who eventually became warrior and king. Among the great leaders of history–from Alexander the Great to Winston Churchill in our century–none has had any more warmth and greatness of heart than did David.

Despite his weakness and his failures, David consistently laid hold of God as his fortress, his strength, and his source of hope.

Truth is stranger than fiction, and David’s personal life bears that out. No playwright or writer in his wildest imagination could give birth to a plot containing the vast gamut of emotions and events that shaped David’s life.

Following David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, the son that she bore to him died. Then one of his many sons, Amnon, raped David’s daughter Tamar. Then Absalom, Tamar’s brother, enraged by the affront, killed Amnon. And for this, Absalom was banished from the presence of David whose heart was broken not only by the sadness and shame of what happened to Tamar but also by the death of the young man whom he still loved.

Eventually, Absalom returned home and conspired to overthrow his father David and become king himself. When the king’s troops finally went into battle, David instructed them, "Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake." Be gentle to the one who couldn’t wait to be king, who undermined his father’s authority, who had killed his own brother, whose word meant nothing. "Be gentle to him," said David. Doesn’t every father, every mother whose son is arrested for a crime, say, "He is a good boy; surely he could not have done this."

It was Absalom’s vanity that became his undoing. His thick long hair caught in the low branches of a tree, and Joab, David’s chief of staff, quickly dispatched Absalom. The revolt was over as quickly as it began.

David, though, wept over his wayward son. "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you–O Absalom, my son, my son!"

David’s love for his son–unworthy as he was–helps us understand that God’s love for us defies explanation or understanding. God sent His Son to bring us–those who, like Absalom, have undermined His authority and have spurned His love and overtures–back into fellowship with Himself. What love, what unfathomable love the Father has for His children!