Pleasing All the People

All the people took notice of it, and it pleased them; just as everything the king did pleased all the people. II Samuel 3:36 NRSV

I have never been able to please all the people. In school, I might be one teacher's favorite student and another teacher's worst nightmare. In my secular career, I might please the client and disappoint upper management...or perhaps the other way around. As a pastor, I have tried to please all the people but I find it to be an impossible if not torturous task. These days, the only One I try to please is God. Some days I find that I am merely pleasing myself but I try for pleasing God.

At the beginning of II Samuel, David seems to be pleasing all the people, all the time. However, we know it won't last. Bathsheba, Joab, Absalom -- all of these folks are coming into David's life in just a few pages. David will stop pleasing all the people and do his fair share of displeasing God. But in the end, he will try his best to make right his relationship with God.

Who are you trying to please?

God, help us to try and please you, only you. In pleasing you, we will find peace and joy. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Copyright 2010 Amelia G. Sims