The Bible is full of relatable stories, one of which is the story of Amnon and Absalom. They were both David’s sons, although they were from different mothers. Amnon loved Absalom’s sister, Tamar, and he followed some bad advice and raped her. When Absalom heard of this, he got bitter and was full of hatred for Amnon. The Bible says he did not talk about it for 2 years! Eventually, he got his revenge and planned the death of Amnon. However, he did not end well. He tried to instigate a rebellion against his father and got killed prematurely.
I believe that the unforgiveness Absalom carried in his heart for that two years caused his death. Let’s reason it this way; he probably kept quiet for two years because he was waiting for David to take action, and when David failed, he took matters into his own hands. He probably began to think, because of the whole situation, that he would make a better king than David, and then started the rebellion which led to his death.
Imagine if Absalom forgave his half-brother for raping his sister; do you think he would have thought of starting the rebellion that eventually took his life? I will not pretend to understand how he must have felt; they probably lived in the same street, and he saw Amnon live his life without facing any punishment, and each time, he felt anger rise up within him. But the hard work of forgiveness would have saved him a lot of problems, and prevented his premature death.
Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo reiterates my thoughts when he said that a wounded heart and negative emotions will contribute to premature death if they are not brought under the power of the Blood.
From his statement, one thing is obvious: we have an advantage. We have something that Absalom did not have, which made it difficult to forgive Amnon. We have The Holy Spirit, which was made available to us by the blood of Jesus. If someone has hurt you really bad, and you are finding it difficult to forgive, you can ask The Holy Spirit, who is your ultimate helper, to help you forgive the person.
I read somewhere that unforgiveness is like taking rat poison and expecting your enemy to die. You are actually doing yourself a favour by forgiving the person that has hurt you. And remember that as a christian, you are meant to forgive everyone who has hurt you because God has forgiven you of your many sins. Don’t be like the servant in that parable Jesus told, who couldn’t forgive his fellow servant of his little debt, when his king had forgiven him of a much larger debt. When you think of it, the sins God has forgiven us of cannot be compared to the one thing you have to forgive your fellow human being of. Be blessed.
Be the first to comment