The Bible records a brutal event in 2 Samuel 20. It is about a young warrior Amasa.Amasa was a military commander of Absalom, the son of David. After Absalom’s dreadful death , he joined the army of the then King of Judah, David.
David has faced many adversaries during his kingship, one of them was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Banjamite. (2 Samuel 20:1). Sheba , along with half of the men of Israel blew a trumpet against King David. It became vital for King David to stop Sheba. The mission was to pursue Sheba, find him and end the rebellion. King David had ordered Amasa to assemble the men of Judah in three days and be present personally for the pursuit. Amasa went to assemble the men, but he delayed longer than the set time King David had appointed. There was no time to spare, as Sheba would hide himself in some fortified city and escape. As Amasa was getting delayed, David appointed another commander, Abishai, the brother of Joab, the chief commander of the military of King David. David ordered Abishai to pursue Sheba and find him. MISSION SHEBA !!!
Joab with his men was in the pursuit, he happened to meet Amasa at the large stone which is in Gibeon (2 Samuel 20:8). Joab pretending to greet Amasa, went near him and struck him in the stomach and his entrails poured out on the ground , thus Amasa was killed by Joab. Joab and Abishai continued the pursuit, leaving Amasa wallowed in his blood in the middle of the highway. The people in the pursuit, who came upon Amasa halted and stood still. Instead of pursuing the enemy the people were gathering around the corpse. The mission was getting delayed. Considering the essence of time and the cruciality of the mission, one of Joab’s men saw this and moved Amasa from the highway to the field and threw a garment over him. Now when Amasa’s corpse was removed from the highway all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba.
Jesus has given us a mission,” Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15). Let us take up the whole armour of God, “having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace,… taking the shield of faith, …. The helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:13-17) and join the mission. Let us lay aside the doctrinal differences and help each other win souls for Christ. The harvest is plenty and the workers are few, and there is no time to waste on arguments and debates, the mission is highly important. Let us not waste our time in convincing each other of our doctrinal faiths. The time is fleeting. Let us remove the hindrance, cover it, we will talk about it after accomplishing the mission. Acts(17:30), God commands all men everywhere to repent, but how will they repent unless they know the good news. May God give us a deep understanding of the gospel of peace.
GO, PREACH, TEACH AND BAPTIZE……
