INTRODUCTION

Absalom rebelled against David (his father) and sought to destroy him. Ahithophel, formerly David’s advisor, gave counsel that would very likely have been the demise of David and his followers (2 Samuel 17:1-4 [1] Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: [2] And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only: [3] And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace. [4] And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.
See All...). Absalom was pleased with the counsel, but desired a second opinion. He sent for Hushai, a loyal friend of David working undercover in Absalom’s kingdom (2 Samuel 15:31-37 [31] And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. [32] And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount, where he worshipped God, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat rent, and earth upon his head: [33] Unto whom David said, If thou passest on with me, then thou shalt be a burden unto me: [34] But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father's servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. [35] And hast thou not there with thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests? therefore it shall be, that what thing soever thou shalt hear out of the king's house, thou shalt tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. [36] Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz Zadok's son, and Jonathan Abiathar's son; and by them ye shall send unto me every thing that ye can hear. [37] So Hushai David's friend came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.
See All...), and asked his counsel. Hushai proceeded to tell Absalom the shortcomings of Ahithophel’s counsel and followed up by offering his own. After hearing the counsel of both Ahithophel and Hushai, Absalom determined that Hushai’s counsel was better. Hushai’s loyalty conquered Absalom’s rebellion.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For smaller children) Abigail's loyalty and wisdom kept David from rebelling against her wicked husband Nabal. David thanked Abigail because he later would have been ashamed of his deed. Abigail's loyalty saved Nabal's household (1 Samuel 25:2-38 [2] And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. [3] Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. [4] And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. [5] And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: [6] And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. [7] And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. [8] Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. [9] And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. [10] And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. [11] Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? [12] So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings. [13] And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff. [14] But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them. [15] But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: [16] They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. [17] Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him. [18] Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. [19] And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. [20] And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert on the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. [21] Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. [22] So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. [23] And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, [24] And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. [25] Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. [26] Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. [27] And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. [28] I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. [29] Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. [30] And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; [31] That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid. [32] And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: [33] And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. [34] For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. [35] So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person. [36] And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. [37] But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. [38] And it came to pass about ten days after, that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.
  See All...).
• In a home, how could one child’s loyalty to his parents conquer the rebellion of siblings? In a workplace, how could one person’s loyalty overcome the rebellion of others?
• How can one believer’s loyalty to the Lord overcome the rebellion of others? How are you working for the Lord in order to fight against the rebellion of this world?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Ask the Lord to help you be loyal when others rebel.
• Ask the Lord to give you the loyalty of Hushai.

HYMN

Come We that Love the Lord

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