Our passage of study this week talks about two messengers - one who was prepared and one who was unprepared. This story can be found in  2 Samuel 18:19-33. This story takes place during the reign of King David. His Son Absalom had rebelled and tried to take over his Father’s Kingdom. David’s Army had just defeated Absalom in battle and Absolum had died. 

Even if you read the passage once already this week, I encourage you to read it again to see what else sticks out to you today!  2 Samuel 18:19-33

A third lesson we can take away from these messengers, and Ahimaaz specifically, is that ambition & selfish ambition is not the same thing. TO BE CLEAR,  I don’t want you to read this devotions thinking “We should only act when we are confident we are completely ready and prepared.” That’s not what this story is about. In fact there may be times in your life God may call you to do things you feel utterly unprepared for. For example, I don’t think that Moses ever felt fully ready to go stand before Pharaoh and demand freedom for the Israelites. I don’t think King David felt “ready” when he went to go fight Goliath. Life is not about waiting until you feel ready, but rather listening for God’s call. 

We as Christians should be ambitious and bold in wanting to share the gospel message and bring shalom to chaos, but it should be for the Glory of God, not for our own selfish gain. You can read a lot of commentaries on this passage, but the general consensus is that Ahimaaz’s stubborn insistence on wanting to be the one to share the message was for selfish ambition, hoping to gain favor with the king by sharing news of the victory. Ambition is a good thing, but test your heart to ensure your ambition comes from a love of God’s glory not a love of your own glory. 

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” - Philippians 2: 3-4

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