 Second Samuel chapter 15 beginning at verse 24. There was Zadok also and all the Levites with him bearing the Ark of the Covenant of God and they set down the Ark of God and Abbiathar went up until all the people had finished crossing over from the city. Then the king said to Zadok carry the Ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me back and show me both it and his dwelling place but if he says thus I have no delight in you here I am let him do to me as seems good to him. The king also said to Zadok the priest are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace and your two sons with you. Ahimahaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abbiathar. See I will wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me. Therefore Zadok and Abbiathar carried the Ark of God back to Jerusalem and they remained there. So David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives and wept as he went up and he had his head covered and went barefoot and all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up weeping as they went up. Then someone told David saying Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom and David said oh Lord I pray turn the council of Ahithophel into foolishness. Now for those of you who may be visiting us for the first time today you need to know that what we do here is we go through the Bible verse by verse and we're now in 2 Samuel we spent time going through 1 Samuel we arrived into 2 Samuel and we've been following this particular book chapter by chapter verse by verse until we've arrived at this place here. What I try to do is I try to give the full council of God and the way to give the full council of God is to give a Bible study through the word of God and that's what we've done and that's what we've been doing now for 28 years. We've been going through the word of God together as a church trying to be built up in our faith in the things of the Lord receiving information and instruction from his word and so here we are in 2 Samuel in chapter 15. At this time as we arrive here in this particular passage King David has a son his son's name is Absalom. Absalom is in rebellion against his father and the Bible has said that he has stolen the hearts of the men of Israel. The news of him stealing their hearts has come to David. Now David obviously as his father knew his temperament and therefore he knew it would be wiser to abandon the city than to remain there because if he were to remain civil war would have broken out many would have died. So David has ordered the evacuation of the city of Jerusalem we see that in verse 14 of the same chapter where it says David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem arise and let us flee or we shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste to depart lest he overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us and strike the city with the edge of the sword. Now so David has assembled at the outskirts of the city and he's now crossing what has been called the Brook Kidron and with great tears they are heading with their king into the wilderness. Now with David were Zadok the Levites or the priests as well as the high priest Abiyathar and with them they have brought what has been called the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was the most holy item they have in the nation of Israel because it represents the presence of God with the people of Israel. In the Old Testament book of Exodus in chapter 29 verses 43 through 45 God said there I will meet with the children of Israel and the Tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. So I will consecrate the Tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to me as priests. I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. So Zadok and Abiyathar have brought the Ark of the Covenant because they believe that since it symbolizes the presence of God with the nation it would bring great comfort to King David. Well David knew though that the Ark itself didn't guarantee God's blessings and he also knew that the Ark could be used in a superstitious fashion and so rather than wanting that Ark to be taken with him he simply says you need to take the Ark back. In verse 25 he sends Zadok and the Ark back to Jerusalem in order to place it in the tent that he had built there that's recorded in 2 Samuel 6. David reasons in verse 25 that if God is pleased with him then he's going to bring him back to Jerusalem. But notice verse 26 how he says but if he says thus I have no delight in you here I am let him do to me as seems good to him. So he says listen if God is not pleased with me then I'm in the hands of the Lord. Now he would rather leave his life in the hands of a merciful God than in the hands of man as a matter of fact later on he says that in 2 Samuel 24.14 he says let us fall into the hand of the Lord his mercies are great do not let me fall into the hand of man. And so he knows that if he trusts the Lord God will do a good thing on his behalf and therefore he says listen if God wants to bless me he will if God is not pleased with me he'll make it plain I'm not concerned about that I'm going to trust him. The Psalmist in Psalm 63.7 says because you have been my help therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. Shadow of your wings is under your protection I know you are my help I know you will protect me I will rejoice in this and that was the mentality of David. Now as that's taken place I want you to see verse 27 the king also said to Zadok the priest are you not a seer that word seer means prophet are you not a prophet return to the city in peace and your two sons with you Amihaz your son and Jonathan the son of Abiathar I'll wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me therefore Zadok and Abiathar carried the Ark of God back to Jerusalem they remained there so he's saying you're more service to me if you stay in Jerusalem and I want you to go in comfort but you need to go because you your sons and all you can send word to me if things change and and and you can basically be my eyes in the city and therefore I don't need you with me you need to go and therefore they went they remained in Jerusalem well David in verse 30 went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives and he wept as he went up and he had his head covered and went barefoot these are signs of mourning symbols of mourning and all the people who are with him covered their heads and went up weeping as they went up so like a captive taking being taken captive as a barefooted person he's mourning and he's sorrowing but I want you to notice this those who went along with him also mourned they were grieving for their king they're grieving for his loss and they're grieving for their own exile that's the way it is when somebody loves you by the way guys when somebody loves you and cares about you then when your heart is broken theirs is too and when you're rejoicing they rejoice along with you in Romans 12 15 it says rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep I think for many people they don't understand that many people to have an understanding of what it means to follow the Lord it doesn't they don't understand what it means to be in the body of Christ they don't understand what it means to be a Christian they don't understand what it means to have true spirituality for a lot of people today you know they're they're good weather friends you know they're they're there for you at certain points in your life as long as you're doing well but when you're not doing well they abandon you in the case of David he had people who are with him and they were there weeping with him as he was weeping indeed they would rejoice when he rejoiced but they were there weeping with him as he was weeping I think for some people it's easier to weep with someone than to rejoice with him because if they see somebody being blessed receiving some finances or being able to buy a new house or a car they immediately get envious or jealous and they get upset about it and instead of saying you know God has blessed you they say why hasn't God blessed me it's easier for them to cry with somebody who's who's lost something because at least in that loss it wasn't something that that person who is next to them is experiencing on a personal personal level but what we as Christians are to do is we're to rejoice we rejoice with those who are rejoicing we weep with those who weep in in the case of David those whom he was leading see their king weeping mourning acting as a captive as he's walking barefooted and they begin to mourn alongside of him now as this is taking place verse 31 someone told David saying a hithophels among the conspirators with absalom david said oh lord I pray turn the council of a hithophel into foolishness a hithophels council was extremely valuable to any who received it we'll see this in chapter 16 in just a moment so what he's praying is this lord may any advice he gives be ignored or not be fruitful or not successfully followed lord I'm asking you to undermine his council and interestingly enough in chapter 17 verse 14 we'll see that this prayer was answered because God is going to defeat his advice and so that's what David is doing at this moment now in verse 32 it happened when David had come to the top of the mountain where he worshiped God there was who shy the archite coming to meet him with his robe torn dust on his head these are symbols of mourning david said to him if you go on with me then you'll become a burden to me but if you return to the city and say to absalom I'll be your servant oh king as I was your father's servant previously so I will now also be your servant then you may defeat the council of a hithophel for me and do you not have zidak and abhyath are the priests with you there and therefore it will be that whatever you hear from the king's house you shall tell the zidak and abhyath are the priests indeed they have they have there with them their two sons ahmaz and zidak son and jonathan abhyath our son and and by them you shall send me everything you hear so who shy david's friend went into the city and absalom came into jerusalem who shy was a friend of david very dear to him but the problem is who shy is old david is on his way out he needs to get out as fast as possible this older man this counselor this friend of his could actually be a burden to him slowing him down you know that when you are with a friend of yours of equal ability to walk or run or whatever of equal strength and you're on a task doing something you know that when you're together evenly matched basically you can get things done very quickly you don't worry about them you're not concerned over them uh needing your assistance or help needing something carried by you etc you know that but then there are times that maybe you're with somebody who needs help extra help they walk slower you need to carry their bags you're unable to really do the things that you need to do as quickly as possible they become a burden to you well david was saying who shy you'll be a burden to me we're trying to get out of here as fast as we can and and and you're not going to be able to travel at the pace that we're going and so that you're better suited to go back when you go back i already have the priest the high priest i have their sons there and uh they're going to be my eyes all you need to do is volunteer to be absalom's counselor and anything you hear you can communicate to the young man they'll bring it to me and you're going to be of more profit to me and so david gives him some advice some direction and he goes back and chooses to do so but as he goes back into the city notice verse 37 absalom came into jerusalem so absalom david's son now has a triumphal entry if you will he comes in victoriously he's now going to take his seat as the king in the city of jerusalem well in verse one of chapter 16 when david was a little past the top of the mountain there was eva the servant of mephhiboshet who met met him with a couple of saddle donkeys and on them 200 loaves of bread 100 clusters of raisins 100 summer fruits and a skin of wine and the king said to zebra what do you mean to do with these so zebra said the donkeys are for the king's household to write on the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat and the wine for those who are faint in the wilderness to drink then the king said and where is your master's son and zebra said to the king indeed he is staying in jerusalem for he said today the house of israel will restore the kingdom to my father of my father to me so the king said to zebra here all that belongs to mephhiboshet is yours and zebra said i humbly bow before you that i may find favor in your sight my lord oh king you've seen zebra before zebra was an individual who at one time had been the household steward over the possessions of king sol on one occasion david had said is there any living relative that i might bless and mephhiboshet was brought in a young man who had been crippled since he was a little boy david took this house steward who was living like a king took the things that he was using for himself and gave him to mephhiboshet and made zebra into his servant zebra didn't like that so he's been looking for an opportunity to get back what he used to use as his own and so he lies this is a lie what he's doing is he's he's saying that mephhiboshet is actually wanting to take over the kingdom when in reality it's zebra who's who's undermining mephhiboshet now the problem that we have here is the problem of the fact that david is going to make an emotional response david responds emotionally because david doesn't have all the information listen when somebody first comes to you and says something to you and they say something about somebody else if you have a bent towards already thinking in a suspicious way towards that person that they're speaking about it's possible for you to listen to what's being said and agree with them and to respond emotionally over that to the hurt of somebody else and even if it's not true because sometimes what we do is we already are ready to receive bad news and we respond emotionally and that's what david did here no one proverbs 18 13 it says he who answers a matter before he hears it is falling shame to him and what david is doing is david is making an immediate emotional knee jerk response and as a result of that is going to take from mephhiboshet what was rightfully his it had been given to him and he's going to give it to this man a liar by the name of zeba and that's what happens when we don't think things through the way david didn't at this time and so for the moment at least mephhiboshet looks really bad well as this is all taking place verse five now when king david came to bahurim there was a man from the family of the house of sal whose name was shime shimei the son of gara coming from there he came out cursing continuously as he came and he threw stones at david and at all the servants of king david and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left and shimei said thus when he cursed come out come out you blood thirsty man you rogue the lord has brought upon you all the blood of the house of sal in whose place you have reigned and the lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of absalom your son so now you are caught in your own evil because you are a blood thirsty man now bahurim is just east of the city of jerusalem and here's this distant relative of sal he's from the house of benjamin he comes out shimei curses david and he's telling david that he's not fit to live in israel and that he's a worthless killer notice in verse eight how he says the lord has brought upon you all the blood of the house of sal in other words he's blaming david he's blaming david for the deaths of abner for ishbusheth and even iraia he's saying david you stole the kingdom and you're only getting what you deserve so as he is doing this you have to imagine the king with his mighty men his counselors his generals and all these people as this guy is standing there shouting out while his men aren't going to respond well to this in verse nine abashai the son of zaria said to the king why should this dead dog curse my lord the king please let me go over and take off his head he's asking permission to chop his head off see if i can cut his head off he can't talk anymore so if you allow me to go over there and take care of some business and only take me a moment i'd appreciate it david says no you can't do that he's speaking undoubtedly not just for himself but for others because in verse 10 the king said what have i to do with you you sons of zaria so let him curse because the lord has said to him curse david who then shall say why have you done so david said to abashai and all his servants see how my son who came from my own body seeks my life how much more now may this binge might let him alone let him curse for so the lord has ordered him it may be that the lord will look on my affliction and that the lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day david i want to spend some time with you about this one here's some application for you we've been looking at the life of david since first samuel david was a warrior david had no fear of man in him david was the kind of man that caused other men to respect him david was the kind of man that even battle hardened veterans and seeing him could have an immediate respect for him because he had a warrior spirit about him we remember how that david had come when goliath the fallistine giant had been challenging the nation of israel and and how david had come with some supplies in order to defeat his his family and all and as he had come he had seen this this nine foot nine inch man come and defy challenge the the armies of israel and you remember how he came out and he said send out a man that we may fight and and every day goliath was doing that and so when david arrived how that david saw him and the first thing we see him basically saying about this is who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living god this is a man's man give me an opportunity was david give me an opportunity and i'll go take him out give me an opportunity he's the kind of guy that men like me would get behind and say you know what i like a man like you you've got a fiery spirit about you you're a warrior you've got nothing you're not afraid of anything i could follow somebody like you and that was david and when david when something was said about david or said to him or there caused some problems for those whom he loved david was quick to respond remember when his ambassador had gone to uh to comfort the son of a king who had recently died and and were treated with disrespect they had half of their beards shaved off of their faces they had their clothing half removed they were sent out in deep humiliation david's response was instant we're going to retaliate that was david he didn't take anything he didn't take nonsense from anybody and yet what do we have here we have one man following him on a hillside as david is down below yelling at him picking up rocks and throwing him at him throwing dirt into the air and calling him a bloodthirsty rogue you're a thief you deserve to die you stole the kingdom and when abbey author says just give me a moment i'll be back with his head david says no something has happened in the life of david he's broken that's what's happened in the life of david you get broken over time you get broken and it brings humility i gave a lot better studies on raising kids before i had any because people with no children can advise those who do very well what you should do and what you shouldn't do and how it wouldn't let that happen and this is what i would do yeah you don't have any kids it's easy for you to say that wait until you've got four rug rats and then you come and give me some advice but see when my kids were small i had all this oh yes we're gonna do it this way and then they grew up and i discovered some lessons that broke me and brought humility into my life about that that's just the fact that's just the truth you're so sure of certain things when you're young then you learn the hard way over time that that that that things aren't always what you thought they would be and what happens over time is you get broken and you get broken and you get broken again that's what happens as a young minister i've always had very strong opinions that's no lying who's hiding the facts from you but the bottom line is when i was a younger minister i was quick to argue i was quick to argue and make my point because i had an argumentative belligerent spirit i can remember at the age of 23 as i was starting to study on on the cults and i was sitting under a man by the name of walter martin's teaching he was teaching on sunday nights i was sitting under his ministry and had done so for for some time and and i had read his book and i was studying cults and things and i got i got at that time fairly adept at argumentation with those within the cults of the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses even the unification church and and and i actually went out looking for Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses to argue with i used to hunt them down in neighborhoods just the truth i'm not lying i'm not lying pull over the side of the road because they'd inevitably come and talk to you and then we'd go at it you know and i loved it you know i'd get that sorted out wop wop wop wop abbey athar heads would roll and off i'd drive in my Volkswagen go home you know it's the truth argue and then the lord broke me and said you may win an argument but you're losing souls where's your love where's your compassion where's your mercy where's your kindness where's the fruit of the spirit david you love to argue but you disqualify in yourself a ministry because a pugnacious man is not to hold the place of an elder and god begins to break you oh you have all your your opinions when you get married to your husband your wife is going to do this your wife's going to do that and you let her know because you're the man right and then you hurt her and she cries and you see her crying and you think why is she so upset what did i say i'm just trying to lead her when marie and i were dating i was gone for several months i was in europe backpacking i would center scriptures home that i was telling her you need to memorize these so that you can be a good witness or the things of god and i came home and i was at her apartment and i sat her down and i said okay marie what is john 316 saying she said well i know what it says but she didn't get it out and i'd say okay then what does roman 323 say what is roman 310 say what is what is roman's and i started asking her all these hebris 927 john 524 did you not memorize any of these she starts to cry and she runs out of the room and i'm looking at her like hey i'm mentoring you where are you going and she runs into the room crying and i look at her roommate and i say to her what's wrong with her she says david she tried so hard to memorize she tried so hard she said and it just may be that you can do what she can't do and she struggled so i walked into her room and she's sitting on her bed weeping and i look at her and i say what are you crying about no clue that i was rough no clue that i was mean no clue that i wasn't merciful no clue i thought i was doing the right thing i did and god broke me and god broke me and he has been breaking me forgive me he has been breaking me for years that attitude is not from me that is not from me learn to love learn to be compassionate learn to be caring learn to listen learn to love these people that comes through brokenness i promise you david who is this uncircumcised philistine is now saying perhaps god is moving him to curse me what happened david my son my son my son wants my kingdom and my son wants my life and you think i care about shimmy eye i don't what breaks me is my family what breaks me is what he's doing to me maybe god has put it into his heart to remind me of what i am maybe he has so i might loathe what i have been so that i might have the humility to be the king that he wants me to be listen the lord has a way of breaking his servants to make them usable the most valuable tool in the hand of the lord is the tool that is broken we are like clay pots the apostle paul said and we have the excellence of the lord within us but the most valuable clay pot in the hand of god is the broken one when jesus was being anointed on one occasion the woman the woman came in she had an alabaster vase filled with fragrant oil very costly judas knew that it was worth 300 days wages he even computed its value thinking about how much it was being wasted because the woman broke that the neck of that vessel and then poured out the fragrant oil on the feet of the lord jesus christ that oil that was in that in that that vase was doing nobody any good because it was not being used but the only way for that oil to be used was for the container to be broken god has given to us his excellence that resides in us it's in us the excellence of god but the only way for it to get out is for him to break you and when you're broken your attitude changes when you're broken your heart softens when you're broken you can hear the tears in the voice of people when they're speaking to you you can cry for strangers like we do for the Haitian people when you're broken and then you hear people saying things about them reaping what they and curses and god's heart weeps for people never forget that and he breaks us to do the same and so david says to his men listen god may have a word for me that i i'm not going to hear if i go off in eventual fashion i'm not going to do that now notice in verse 12 it may be that the lord will look on my affliction and the lord will repay me with good you see god is compassionate and god is merciful it's better to trust him it's like what paul later on would say in in romans in the book of romans chapter 8 verse 28 when he said we know that all things work together for good to those who love god to those who are the called according to his purpose it works together in the hand of the lord to produce christ likeness in us in 2nd carinthians chapter 4 verse 17 when paul was writing to the carinthian church he said our light affliction which is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory i go through something that is small now but it's temporary because later on i'm going to reap the eternal dividends and benefits of that and that's what david's basically is is is alluding to god has got a work he wants to do and god will do what he wants in me well in verse 13 and as david and his men went along the road jimmy i went along the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went through stones at him kicked up dust he was like a mean chihuahua following him down the road anybody here ever have a little dog yapping at your heel oh man you want to just boot him through the door right you're riding your bicycle and there's this little dog there oh well that's what shimmy is like he's out there just making all this noise throwing up the dirt throwing rocks at him and david just patiently with his troops just keeps moving and the king and all the people were with them became weary so they refreshed themselves there they came to a place to rest and remain there this place is actually called it's a rest stop that is called weary or the long road would have been a place for the weary so they come to a place of rest now meanwhile verse 15 absalom and all the people the men of israel came to jerusalem and hit fell was with him so it was when who shy the archide david's friend came to absalom that who shy said to absalom long live the king long live the king so absalom said to who shy is this your loyalty to your friend why did you not go with your friend new shy said to absalom no but whom the lord and this people and all the men of israel choose his all be and with him i'll remain furthermore whom should i serve should i not serve in the presence of his son as i have served in your father's presence so while i be in your presence and so he basically flatters him see absalom wanted to to be king yet an arrogant belief that he was the king and so who shy convinces him that uh he's trustworthy and so he allows him to remain as per david's plan but then verse 20 absalom said to a hit the fell give advice as to what we should do and a hit the fell said to absalom go into your father's concubines whom he has left to keep the house and all israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father then the hands of all who are with you will be strong so they pitched a tent for absalom on top of the house absalom went in to his father's concubines in the side of all israel now the advice of a hit the fell which he gave in those days was as if when it inquired at the oracle of the of god so was all the advice of a hit the fell both with david and with absalom as absalom comes to take the throne he's surprised he's surprised at who shy obviously he's suspicious why didn't you go with your best friend why didn't you go with david well he just says look at your king so i'll i'll serve you but when he begins to think in terms of the practical things of how to to sit as king they're in that throne and what's going to make the best impression and how is this going to be that i'm going to be able to take over while he goes to a hit the fell and ask for some advice now remember in chapter 15 david had left 10 concubines to guard the house so a hit the fell says absalom all you need to do is be intimate with these women because if you take them and you are openly intimate with them all israel will know that you are now in the place of your father because only the king has the right to do so plus it's going to drive that wedge between your father and you permanently so do that so absalom follows his advice he thinks that it's a wise thing to do now we need to ask ourselves why would a hit the fell give that kind of advice it was correct but why did he do that well one it's because we need to remember that a hit the fell was grandfather to bathsheba and bathsheba is a one who committed adultery with david and her husband had been killed upon david's command therefore a hit the fell was angry and he was openly wanting to bring shame into the life of david but secondly a prophet by the name of nathan had come up to david and brought a message from the lord we saw that in 2nd samuel 12 verses 10 through 12 and nathan had said the sword shall never depart from your house because you've despised me and have taken the wife of veriah they hit tyke to be your wife thus as a lord behold i will raise up adversity against you from your own house which is absalom and i will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son for you did it secretly but i will do this thing before all israel before the sun god's word is fulfilled in this david you saw bashiba as she was bathing on a rooftop and you secretly brought her to your bed chamber and violated her but absalom is going to take these women these concubines in the side of all israel by putting a tent on top of his roof and it will be plain for all to see what he's doing you did it secretly this shall be done openly well i hit the fel's advice as it says in verse 23 was was solid it was practical it produced the desired result but here it is the wisdom that he once showed that could have been so good is now bitter and twisted his anger at david his desire for vengeance made him a tool to be used to hurt david and how different it is when we have a heart of compassion mercy and forgiveness towards others instead of giving advice to harm in christ we give advice to help i hit the fel's advice didn't do the nation any good but it certainly created a lot of pain for all my brother was a young man he got married he got married at the age of 18 and remained married for several years but began to have some difficulties in his marriage i had gotten saved my brother wasn't saved yet so i tried to minister to his wife we were all young at that time we were in our early 20s and i came over to see her i loved her i'd known her since we were freshmen in high school my brother and she were high school sweethearts and i loved her like a sister she was having difficult time and she started meeting with jojoba's witnesses and jojoba's witness woman began to influence her that if she's going to be a good jojoba's witness she needs to let go of my brother my brother showed me a letter that this particular woman had given to my ex-sister-in-law and it said your your your husband's anger at you is a good thing because it shows that you're following jojoba's rules and you're in his kingdom so that created a real rift between frank and his then wife and i came to minister to her and i was sharing with her about forgiveness about how god can change lives she had a friend over and her friend says oh really well my husband divorced me then he became a born again christian he's now remarried and he's happy and i just don't think that's fair and so she was pouring her bitterness and her anger out and this was a constant source of bitterness as i knew at that time in the life of my then sister-in-law bitterness bitterness anger advice that ended up creating a rift that was so great that it just ended a marriage bitterness does that unforgiveness does that bad advice from a bitter heart should never be taken we have people who go out and buy books by bitter people to tell them how to be successful in life how to have a happy life people who've been married seven times writing on how to have a successful marriage seriously seriously and and and while we do learn from our mistakes i have a tendency of wanting to speak to somebody who's been married for a long time to one person because they probably have a continuous stream of experience that i can learn from my mom and my dad were married over 50 years before my dad went home to be with the lord my my mother-in-law and father-in-law were married over 50 years when he went home to be with the lord and and those are the models that i choose to use i like to speak to those who have successfully made it through life following a formula that is is is workable i do that but when somebody's bitter and saying well i've been there i've seen this isn't look out for that sometimes it's a bitterness and anger that they have in the heart that they pour into somebody else and it results in pain for that other person be careful who you allow to influence in your life be careful who you pour bitterness into in the case of david i hit the fel hated hated david for what david had done and he was looking for opportunity to get even and he shamed him through his advice in front of the whole nation of israel to the herd of david to the herd of absalom and to the herd of the people and bitterness does that how different it is when we have compassionate merciful loving spirit filled advice that we can communicate through the word of god concerning the loving gracious god that we serve who can heal the brokenhearted and can transform lives who is quick to forgive and shows great mercy to those who don't deserve it what a good god we serve and god help us to remember that when we influence others because we can give good advice or we can do what a hithafel does give advice that's workable but it's destructive i want to give the advice that builds up not the advice that tears it down