Seize the Moment – Day 778
Live above Reproach!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, May 4.
Have you ever been accused of something that you didn’t do? How did you prove your innocence? In 2 Samuel 3:6-8 there is an exchange between Ish-bosheth, the king of Israel, and Abner, the general of Israel’s armies:
It came about while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David that Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah; and Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?” Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a dog’s head that belongs to Judah? Today I show kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hands of David; and yet today you charge me with a guilt concerning the woman.”
The context was that Abner was “making himself strong in the house of Saul.” The king did more than accuse him of sleeping with one of Saul’s concubines. He was accusing him of a military coup because that activity was considered a public signal of an attempt to overthrow the king (e.g., 2 Samuel 16:21-22).
Abner was furious and he moved against the king to put David on the throne of Israel. Abner soon died at the hands of Joab and Abishai, who sought revenge for the death of their brother Asahel in the battle of Gibeon (2 Samuel 2:23; 3:26-30). David grieved Abner’s death and was frustrated with his men for killing him (31-39). It was a mess of personal agendas and political intrigue!
Seize the moment and live above reproach. “Keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:16).