Devotion 17

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II SAMUEL 2:24 "Then Joab came to the king, and said, What hast thou done? behold, Abner came unto thee; why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone? 25 Thou knowest Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou doest. 26 And when Joab was come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, which brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew it not. 27 And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. 28 And afterward when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the LORD for ever from the blood of Abner the son of Ner: 29 Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread. 30 So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner, because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. 31 And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier. 32 And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept. 33 And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth? 34 Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters: as a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people wept again over him."

ECCLESIASTES 4:13 "Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king."

We read in II Samuel, chapter 2, about the death of Joab's brother. He had been chasing Abner, the captain of Saul's army (and his cousin), during a battle. Abner had tried to persuade the young man to turn aside but he would not relent. Abner finally got weary of the chase and killed him. Joab vow revenge against his brother's murderer. In the scripture above Abner had been to see King David to form an alliance with him against the house of Saul. When Joab found out, he was angry. He followed Abner to the gates of the city and called after him. Abner should have known Joab was his enemy. He had slain Joab's brother. He should have known even being near him was dangerous. He wasn't paying attention. He wasn't being aware. He died as a fool!

Not paying attention in life can not only get you killed, it can cause you to miss heaven! Judas, one of Jesus' disciples, is an example of this. Judas was not paying attention to his fellowman. If he had been, he would never have betrayed Christ...not for any amount of money. If Judas had truly believed that Jesus was God and had the power of heaven and hell in His hands, I don't think he would have sold Him to the enemy. I beleive that it was after he realized that this Man was truly the Son of God that he became so distraught with what he had done that he killed himself. Not being aware of what is going on around you will cause you heartache, stress, illness and even death and could buy you a ticket into hell.

I could go on and on listing foolish people from the Bible and from history. One of my favorites which I have spoken of many times before is David. His foolishness cost him a son. Another is Lot, his foolish choice cost him his family and home as did Cain's. Ananias and Sapphira foolishly chose to lie about the price of a piece of land. In Acts, chapter 5, Peter asked Ananias, "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" Ananias and his wife both died a foolish death because of their lie.

The cemeteries are full of people who died foolishly:
People diseased from sexual lusts.
Drunk drivers.
Drug abusers.
Tobacco users.
Road rage victims.
Discovered thieves.
Even people who have been careless with weapons, etc.

We can't just drift through life unaware of what we are doing or of what is going on around us; eating, drinking and being merry. We need to wake up and pay attention. Being aware of who we are associating with and what they are doing to our lives, of what we are putting into our mouths and of what is coming out of our mouths and perhaps most important of all, of how we are handling our faith. Are we doing everything we can to stay close to God? For up close to Him is the safest place to live!

Don't die as a fool...being ignorant is one thing but being unaware is foolish!

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