Day 88, or March the 29th. Majorities can be
wrong. Our thoughts today are rooted in 2 Samuel
chapter 19, verse 43. Then the men of Israel
answered the men of Judah, We have ten shares
in the king, so we have a greater claim on David
than you have. And now the big picture surrounding
this verse. When David lost his favourite son,
Absalom, he was in danger of slipping into a
desperate state from which he might never recover.
With the help of his army general, Joab, David
gets his priorities back in balance. It's ironic
that the man who killed Absalom was the man who
helped David get over his bereavement. David
now turns his attention to reconciling the north
and south of his kingdom. The North -South divide
was to prove a problem for many centuries, and
was even a big issue in the days of Jesus. And
now, our action step for today. Many think, incorrectly,
that majorities are always right. The bigger
your vote or support, the more correct you are.
Living in a democratic society can lead you to
believe this. In reality, a democracy is a place
where whatever the majority wants is declared
legal. Groups of Christians, or even individual
believers, should not think democratically, but
theocratically. Speaking personally as a Baptist
or free church man, we have church meetings to
decide the road ahead, but I never cease to be
surprised that folk think if a motion has a majority,
then it's okay. I'd been involved in too many
church meeting decisions to know that this is
far from true. The tribes of Israel thought they
were right, ten to two, which was, ironically,
the same statistic as when the spies explored
the Promised Land, and they got it wrong big
time. When you have a decision to make, don't
think in terms of how much support you have.
It's only God's opinion that counts. Voting is
meant... to show how you think God would vote.
It's not meant to give us a chance to get our
own way, if only we can get enough finance or
enthusiastic supporters.