Key Verse: 2 Samuel 17:14
So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom.

God permits certain things to happen as we exercise our free will; but HIS GREAT PLAN FOR THE AGES will not be altered by anyone!!! Absalom exercised his free will. God allowed it. However, God’s ultimate plan was to reconfirm His call on David’s life by restoring a repentant and chastened David. David’s son, Solomon, perhaps reflecting on his father’s hard lessons, wrote in Proverbs 3:11-12, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His corrections; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights” (discipline – as in disciple). The writer to the Hebrews in 12:6 picks up this fact, and then we may want to read from the final book in the Bible, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” chapter 3:14-22 (click here). Verse 19 quotes Solomon. The Laodiceans, exercising their free will, chose to be lukewarm. God’s ultimate will was determined by their response to His invitation to repent, hear Him knocking, hear His voice, and open the door. Just think, if they had learned from God’s chastisement, they could have been sitting with Christ on His eternal throne.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, in Your humanity You were learning. As Hebrews 5:8 tells me, speaking of You, “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” Please grant me the grace to be the best learner I could ever be. “Teach me Your way, O Lord.” Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:
When Norma-Jean and I were helping to establish a new congregation in Deep River, Ontario, I took a bus to Ottawa. In Ottawa I changed buses and arrived in Cornwall, Ontario, where a car dealer, Wes Miller, had found a retired school bus for our new Sunday School. I drove it back home, and I had lettering painted on one side, “TEACH ME THY WAY, O LORD,” and on the other, “STUDY TO SHOW THYSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD.” Across the front above the windshield it read, “THE SUNDAY SCHOOL SCOUT.” I was out like a hockey scout looking for future stars for Jesus. Every Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. I would drive “The Scout” north on the trans-Canada Highway for 43 miles, turn around and pick up almost every child who lived on that stretch, and bring them to Sunday School and Church. A deacon, Mervin Bowes, would take them home, arriving back at Deep River at about 2:15 p.m. He’d head home for his dinner, and I’d hop in and pick up children on a southern leg of the highway for a Sunday School and service in Chalk River. These children were learners, disciples, and many of them became true followers of Jesus who were becoming “children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). As Daniel 12:3 says, “like the stars forever and ever.” I’m still scouting for stars for Jesus!

Yours to turn many to righteousness in Christ,

David