A Blurred Focus
2 Samuel 18:11
"And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle."
Have you ever looked at a picture that just seemed a bit out of focus? When you first see the picture, you begin to rub your eyes and wonder if there is something wrong with your eyes. But, as you try to focus in on the picture, you realize that the focus was blurred. A blurred focus causes you not to see things as clearly as you could or should.
Joab seemed to have a blurred focus. Joab is interesting to me because of his change in position. At one time he had someone approach David about bringing Absalom back. He felt that David should show appreciation to his son for what he did to Amnon. Then, a few chapters later we see Joab scolded a young man for not killing Absalom when he had the opportunity. We then go to the verse above when Joab wanted to destroy a whole city for one man. You may wonder what all of these have in common. In each story his reaction was based upon how a person or situation affected David. It was not based upon right or wrong, it was based upon whether David was adversely affected by these situations.
Joab's focus was blurred because he was focused upon a man an not upon God. In fact, you find that Joab became disloyal when Solomon became king. His loyalty was not to the truths which David defended. His loyalty was to David himself. If David did wrong, Joab followed. If people treated David right, then Joab treated them right. If people treated David in a wrong manner, then Joab wanted them out of the picture. His blurred focus upon man caused him not to see situations clearly. Instead of focusing upon David, Joab should have kept his focus on God, and that would have helped him to see clearly.
Christian, you must be careful about blurring your focus. What I mean by this is you cannot base your opinions and actions upon how a person you look up to is treated. You must base all your actions upon the truths of the Word of God. Men are not the issue of life. That does not mean we can't learn from men, for there are many men whom God used in a great way from whom we can learn much. But, we must not have our eyes so focused upon man that it blurs our ability to see situations clearly.
The Word of God is a Book that is very black and white. God never blurs the picture for us. When you are done reading a passage of Scripture, you know very clearly what God intended. That is why you must keep your focus on God. He never changes. Man has a way of blurring the picture because man does change. Yes, you should honor those who hold position, and you can learn from great Christians from the past, but don't ever let them cause you to take your focus off God. If you stay focused on God and His Word, then you will never find yourself looking at a blurred picture.