2 Samuel 15: Where Is David?
- Kami Pentecost
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
The moment I started reading this chapter, questions came flooding in just as fast.
In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him. He would get up early and stand by the side of the road leading to the city gate. Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him… Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel. —2 Samuel 15:1–6 NIV
Where is David right now? How does he not know what his son is doing?
It's not like he wouldn't know all this Is going on and If he didn't know that brings up that many
more questions. Absalom is building a following right out in the open. He’s positioning himself as the one who listens, the one who sees people, the one who will act—and it's working. He’s stealing the hearts of Israel, one conversation at a time. How about David? He seems completely gone. Not necessarily unaware but just missing! Did he give up?
I don’t say that to judge him. I say it because I want to know what happened, where did he go...what Is he doing while this Is happening? It looks like a leader who has gone quiet. A father who isn’t paying attention. A man who isn’t stewarding what’s been placed in his hands. It's like he's given up truly! Of course that adds so many more questions about shame David may be carrying, flat out fatigue and who knows what else. There is so much here.
David, where you at? How are you not present in this?
I think about how often I’m pulled toward the next big thing—the vision, the goal, the dream. I’m naturally an achiever. I love to build and create. But sometimes, that can keep me from being
present and from tending to what’s already in my hand.
Meanwhile as Absalom gains influence right in the heart of the kingdom makes me ask: Is he really begging to get his dad's attention? Is he like any child trying to get a reaction from his dad? I learned a long time a kid wanting attention will even go after negative attention verse having no attention.
There’s so much I don’t know, but I do know this: I want to be faithful with what God has already placed in my hands, whether it's the work of my hands, my children, my family, etc... How am I stewarding what he has given me today? Like Jesus came to earth and did exactly what God called him to do, nothing more and nothing less. That's the cry of my heart today!
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