When Bitterness and Ambition Intersect

We started revival with Bro. Greg Ballew this week and it has been so good. Tuesday night he preached from 2 Samuel chapter 16 about David, Absalom, and Ahithophel. It wasn't the point of his message, but he made a statement that I have been chewing on since. He said it is a dangerous thing when bitterness and ambition intersect.

Bitterness destroys the one who is bitter. Ahithophel was known to give counsel to both David and Absalom. 2 Samuel 16:23 says, "And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom." But Ahithopel was also the grandfather of Bathsheba, the one with whom David had an affair. Bitterness towards David was in the heart of Ahithophel and he used it when speaking to Absalom.

Selfish ambition causes one to stop at nothing to get to the top. Absalom was the ambitious one. He wanted to be king of Israel. 2 Samuel 15 tells of Absalom stealing the hearts of the people of Israel. He worked towards the goal of becoming king for forty years.

The end of the story for the ambition of Absalom and the bitterness of Ahithophel was tragedy. Absalom was killed in battle and Ahithophel hung himself.

How different the story would have been if Absalom and Ahithophel could have read Paul's words to the Ephesians: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."