Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

Having The Heart Of Abishai

2 SAMUEL 21:15-17 – There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

THEME OF THE DAY. HAVING THE HEART OF ABISHAI. Weary. Exhausted. Spent. Tired. Worn-out. These are words and experiences every human being knows well. Even Christians. The Apostle Paul wrote of such experiences to the Galatian believers – “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). We often read this as a “pick me up” of encouragement to keep on keeping on when weariness hangs over us like a dark cloud. And that is a good application of this verse. However, let’s be careful we don’t miss something else very important in this verse. When it comes to reading the Bible, don’t be so narrow and read through an individualized lens. Yes, the Bible is personal. Yes, our walk with the Lord is personal, but it is not private. Notice in Paul’s instruction not one first, second, or third person singular pronoun appears. We find no “I”, “you”, “he”, or “she”, but we do find “us” and “we”. Granted, the Apostle was writing a letter to a church, but there is a principle underlying what he has written that is woven throughout the Bible. This principle is that the Christian life is lived in community. It is lived in the context of life-on-life relationships with other Christians who are committed to serious, day-by-day, walks with the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the wisdom of God, He established our relationship with Him as individual, but not private. Our spiritual intimacy with Him is forged in the privacy of our homes and prayer closets to be shared and lived out in the lives of other Christians. And we need to recover this Biblical truth. There are way too many Christians who think they “can go alone” in their walks with the Lord, never seeking to develop deep spiritual relationships with other Christians. And the “scary” part of such thinking is Christians actually think they are spiritually healthy living this isolated Christian experience. The Bible contradicts such thinking all through its pages. We cannot be spiritually healthy by being spiritually alone or maintain a “safe” distance in our relationships with other Christians. We will fail – always. The evidence of this privatized Christianity is seen by low levels of commitment to a local church; no deepening spiritual relationships with other Christians formed in times of prayer and the Word together, and perhaps the most glaring indictment on the privatization of Christianity in our world is the amount of Christians who are lonely, hurting, weary, and are not being ministered to by the body of Christ. Please test my “glaring indictment” in two ways. First, during times of your weariness, exhaustion, and seasons of spiritual “blues”, how often and how many Christians reached out to be a source of encouragement and help? The other way is to look in the mirror. In the past ten days, how many Christians have you ministered to in words of encouragement and acts of service? Remember, the Word says we are “to exhort (encourage, uplift, challenge) one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Not just on Sundays, but on all days, we are to look to be like the man in today’s scripture named “Abishai”.

Abishai. What do we know about him? Not much, but actually a lot. In fact, he is my new friend whom I would like to model. Make him yours as well. Notice what is said of him in today’s scripture – “But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him.” Came to whose aid? David. The scripture reads, “And David grew weary.” Instead of living for himself, and letting David “fend on his own”, our friend Abishai stepped up and ministered to weary David. And there are Christians and non-Christians in all our lives who need to see Jesus by us being Abishai-like – reaching out and serving them. May the Lord help us learn more and more the truth that we truly don’t live for ourselves, but for Him and others.

PRAYER: “Father, as I pray for Your help and blessings in people’s lives, help me be an answer to my own prayer.”

QUOTE: “Christians love other Christians. Christians help other Christians. It is who we are.”