April 13

Accountability Day ... send me an email informing me where you are in your reading.

For today: 2 Samuel 14-16

Taking Criticism

On Wednesday nights over the next few weeks we are working with some young men on a “life coaching” team. Our assignment this week is to assess who we are. Every one of us is a complex person with certain strengths and weaknesses. Many times our strengths naturally define our weakness. Take David for instance; his strength is that he is a fantastic warrior. He is the one guy I would want next to me in a battle. As a consequence David is a man of blood. That is part of his personality – the strong, dominate, courageous warrior. We would expect that his weakness would be in the area of gently handing any criticism. Warriors for the most part don’t like people standing in their way. But David surprises us today with showing us that he was able to show great restraint as he heads into exile. When he is confronted with the slander of Shimei we expect to hear the Shimei became part of Israelite history. But David show remarkable strength of character with Shimei’s taunting. David considers that God might be speaking to him through the abusive words. In the end we see the warrior showing remarkable patience and personal strength.

Here is the thought for us; in every criticism we receive, there is a kernel of truth. It takes a strong person to discern the difference between taunting and rebuke. So the next time you are criticized step back and ask God to help you grasp the kernel truth in the words. Don’t overreact but show patience, restraint and show your character.