True greatness
by Linda Macqueen
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Solomon … shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place (1 Kings 1:30b).
Read 1 Kings 1:5–31
This reading describes a dramatic event in the history of Israel’s monarchy. In today’s language, we might call it a military coup. Adonijah, an elder brother of Solomon, defies the authority of his father, King David, gathers around him fickle religious and political leaders, disloyal factions of the army and opportunistic members of his own family, and declares himself king. He makes lavish public sacrifices, but this is not done to honour God; it’s feigned humility and reverence designed to garner the support of the people. This overgrown, spoilt brat does not sound anything like the descendant of David whom God had promised would continue the royal bloodline (2 Samuel 7:11b–16).
Meanwhile, young Solomon is waiting quietly and patiently in the background. Like his father before him, he does not put his name forward to be king. And unlike his brother, Solomon does not grasp power, fame or anything else that might prop up a fragile ego. It’s no surprise then that it is Solomon, not Adonijah, whom God establishes as king of Israel.
This pattern is seen time and time again in God’s dealings with his people. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). In Jesus, we see humility perfected. Though he was God, Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Instead, he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant and obeying God even to death on the cross (Philippians 2:5–8). His leadership was marked not by self-promotion, but by self-sacrifice, love and service.
Whether it is found in a kitchen or a boardroom, true greatness in the kingdom of God always has and always will be clothed in humility and self-denial.
Heavenly Father, help me to reject the spirit of Adonijah – the temptation to use my knowledge, position or strength to promote myself. Instead, help me to adopt the humility of Solomon and, ultimately, of Jesus: to trust your timing, to wait patiently for your call, to serve with humility wherever you have placed me, and (if you ask me) to lead with gentleness and grace. Amen.
Linda Macqueen retired in September 2025, having served 26 years as editor of The Lutheran and Communications Manager for the LCANZ. She has rapidly adapted to retirement, happily and energetically bringing her long-neglected home and garden back to life. She lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills with her husband, Mark, and with their household’s lord and master, Nelson the rescued galah.
Get ready for a shake-up
by Linda Macqueen
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… The time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down (Luke 21:6).
Read Luke 21:5–19
Imagine that Jesus is looking at you right in the eye and telling you that everything you’ve built your hope on is about to crumble, that even what you believe about God and his promises is sinking sand. That’s pretty much what Jesus is telling his disciples in today’s text.
For the disciples and all devout Jews, the temple was much more than a building. It was the very heart of their worship, the place where heaven and earth met, and the dwelling place of God among his people. Its grandeur was a visible sign of God’s presence and his promise of enduring faithfulness. So, what Jesus was saying, that ‘not one stone will be left on another’, was utterly shocking – and this, coming from a rabbi!
Jesus was preparing the disciples for the day when everything they thought they knew about God and how he works would shatter. The temple had reached its use-by date; God was about to create a radically new way of living among his people. Jesus’ declaration to his disciples – about the fall of the temple and the awful hardships ahead – was a harsh one. But the disciples’ religious foundations had to shatter, so they could build a faith on the Rock that would last forever.
Still today, God, in his great love for us, will not allow us to build our lives on anything less than Christ himself. From time to time, he will rattle us, causing the foundations of our self-made security to tremble. If necessary, he will even shake us free of our religious rules and rituals, if they are what we are building our hope on. God will do whatever it takes to make us cling to Christ alone.
Jesus, my Rock and my Redeemer, what is it that you are asking me to let go of today? Help me to place my trust not in what can be lost (no matter how noble it might be), but in you alone, my eternal Saviour who holds me safe, no matter what is crumbling beneath my feet. Amen.
Linda Macqueen retired in September 2025, having served 26 years as editor of The Lutheran and Communications Manager for the LCANZ. She has rapidly adapted to retirement, happily and energetically bringing her long-neglected home and garden back to life. She lives in the beautiful Adelaide Hills with her husband, Mark, and with their household’s lord and master, Nelson the rescued galah.
The power of song
by Tim Klein
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Sing to the Lord a new song (Psalm 98:1a).
Read Psalm 98
Sometimes, we can feel totally powerless and out of control. We don’t always understand what God is doing, and things are happening around us that distress and wound us. The world is in turmoil, and even Australia, which has known relative peace, experiences unrest. God’s word has gone out into all the world, yet so many reject and oppose him. Many people loved by God – even some in our own families – have rejected his love and salvation.
All these things can distress our hearts. They can unsettle our faith and call into question God’s faithfulness. We can feel powerless in the face of such distress. But there is a power greater than all of us. God is still God! He rules. Nothing can change that.
What a privilege that we can connect with the Lord’s power in many ways. That happens when he feeds us with his own body and blood in holy communion. It also occurs through the direct power of God’s word, present and at work in our lives.
There is another significant power that God gives us: the power of song. In the face of our struggles, he tells us to sing: ‘Sing to the Lord a new song!’
Tell the Lord’s story in song. Be reminded of all he has done, is doing and will continue to do for his people. Sing of hope. Sing of past and present mercies. Sing of miracles and mighty acts. Join with his creation – with rivers and trees, seas and mountains. With them, we praise and honour our God.
Not only does this honour and praise the Lord, but it gives us power and courage in the face of darkness, and brings light and hope into our lives. It empowers our lives with hope and the promise of God’s continuing lordship over all creation.
Lord of all: open our eyes to see your presence and what you are doing in the world. Open our ears to hear your voice all around us. Open our hearts and minds to acknowledge and praise your wonderful name. Open our voices to sing a new song to you every day. Empower us to live with boldness and hope as your living and active presence in the world. In the name of Christ. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
Betrayal and grief
by Tim Klein
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The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: ‘O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you – O Absalom, my son, my son!’ (2 Samuel 18:33).
Read 2 Samuel 18:19–33
The saga of Absalom is over. Absalom and his lustrous locks lie in a stone-covered pit. The king, his father David, mourns for his death. ‘O Absalom, my son, my son.’
Given Absalom’s betrayal, why did David mourn with such grief? This son, a son whom he loved greatly, had conspired against him, attacked him and caused grief in the households of thousands of soldiers. Does he deserve the grief of his father?
Contrast this with the death of David’s son from Uriah, which we read in Monday’s devotion. The boy is dying, David is fasting and weeping, pleading with God to heal him. When the boy dies, David simply gets on with life. We don’t hear about any significant grief – nothing at all like his grief over the death of Absalom.
I am wondering if there is some crossover with Jesus’ thoughts when he said, ‘I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance’ (Luke 15:7).
It’s as if the boy, who was young and had done no evil against David, is not mourned because he is safe and saved. Whereas Absalom, on the other hand, has committed so much betrayal and violence that David is mourning his eternal loss.
There’s no easy way to explain this double-sided dealing from a human perspective. But what about from the Lord’s perspective? I’m still reflecting on this.
I’m caring for a dying man as I write this. He’s a man of faith. Yes, his family and I will mourn his death, but we will also celebrate and give thanks to God for his life – here and into eternity. God will welcome him safely home: Well done, good and faithful servant – enter!
God grant that our families and loved ones will mourn us, not with deep, explosive grief, but with certainty that we are safe and saved.
Father, we ask in Jesus’ name for a sure and certain faith and trust in you as we commit our loved ones into your keeping. Keep them in faith. Let their hope and ours rest in you. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
A monument to me!
by Tim Klein
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During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, ‘I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.’ He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day (2 Samuel 18:18).
Read 2 Samuel 18:1–18
Have you ever reflected on these questions: ‘What is my legacy?’ or ‘Who will remember me when I am gone?’
I have a beautiful wife, three children and 10 grandchildren. Will they be my everlasting legacy? I also have several ‘daffodil children’ – seedlings that I hybridised while living in New Zealand. Some are listed in the international daffodil registry. Will that be enough as an everlasting legacy? Or should I perhaps do an ‘Absalom’ and erect a pillar, a statue of myself to be seen by everyone who follows after me?
And then I remember the words of the funeral rite: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. From dust you came and to dust you shall return.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 tells us:
‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’
How ironic that Absalom was buried in a stone-covered pit, despite his enduring pillar, his plotting, and his efforts to go to war with his father to take over the kingdom and the thousands of soldiers who died in that war.
Let’s not hand over our lives to anger and war. Instead, let’s seek peace and pursue it, using all we have to serve the Lord and each other. Our lasting monument is to be in Christ. Christ is the beginning and the end. In Christ we remain. His love, his mercy and his grace are the heartland of eternity at work in us now.
They will remember us for a while – but then we will be gone from this place, and they will remember us no more. When we live and move and have all our being in Christ, we are not ‘meaningless’. The best legacy we can leave is to be the living, loving, serving, gracious presence of Christ.
Father God, thank you for gathering us up into Jesus. Let our serving in his name, as his living presence, be our eternal legacy. We ask this in his name. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
Conspiracy!
by Tim Klein
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… Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him. Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the people of Israel (2 Samuel 15:5b,6).
Read 2 Samuel 15:1–16
A person once came to me and said they appreciated that I did not plot or connive for things – in other words, I played it straight. I was genuine. I received it as a compliment, for this person lived in a corporate world where ‘the game’ was played. That person’s world was about selectively placed influence and cultivated partnerships – saying the ‘right’ thing to the person who wanted to hear it. A far cry from Jesus’ ‘Let your yes be yes, and your no be no’ (Matthew 5:37a). Sadly, this also happens in the church.
In this story, Absalom has mastered the art of conspiracy and is gathering supporters against the king. Seemingly simple things, such as taking an interest in a person’s home location, taking a person’s hand warmly, giving a welcome kiss and promising assistance. Absolom painted himself as one who would do justice for those who perceived they had suffered injustice. He did this consistently over four years, cultivating favour.
Surely Absalom could not do this without his father knowing what was happening – even allowing it to continue. This shows David’s tolerance and love for his son. Perhaps he believed – even hoped – that Absalom had honourable intentions. However, we learn this is not the case as the story of conspiracy and betrayal unfolds.
Perhaps you have been in David’s position. What would you do? How would you act? Would you give such people the benefit of the doubt? Would you be prepared to continue loving them, forgiving them and caring for them?
We have every reason to thank the Lord for continuing to love and care for us despite our conspiracies of sin: when lip service belies our true feelings, when a smile disguises anger, and lies or even silence betray his truth.
Father God, we are so thankful that you continue to love us despite our consistent betrayal of you. Please renew and restore us to true and constant faith in you. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
God knows what’s inside us
by Tim Klein
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom (2 Samuel 14:25a).
Read 2 Samuel 14:25–33
Here’s a song that had some sort of resonance with my younger self – or perhaps not, maybe?
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble
When you’re perfect in every way
I can’t wait to look in the mirror
I get better looking each day
Did you read about Absalom’s hair? Lustrous, luxurious locks. He cut it once a year, weighed it and valued it greatly. He was the golden boy of the kingdom with visions of the throne in mind. ‘From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him’ (verse 25b).
I suspect when we look in the mirror, we are hoping to see something like that – rather than our lost and wrinkled dreams.
The blemish we can’t see is the mess inside – sin’s blemish, and it can’t be hidden. It will emerge.
Under the physical beauty, Absalom seethed against his half-brother, who had raped his sister, ultimately having him killed. Absalom’s rage against his father, David, led him to plot David’s downfall so that he could seize the Kingdom of Israel. (More to come in the following devotions.)
While at war with David, Absalom suffered a tragic death. Ironically, it was his beautiful hair that tangled in the branches of a tree, suspending him where he died at the hands of Joab, a general of David’s army.
Despite all that Absalom had done, David mourned his death. He was heartbroken for the son who tried to kill him and steal his throne. You can read more of Absalom’s story in chapters 13 to 18 of 2 Samuel.
How amazing that David could still love this son of his, whose anger had led him to war against his father. Finally, it was Solomon (Jedidiah), another of David’s sons, who became king of Israel.
We are children of the King – our King Jesus! Give thanks that he looks beneath our surface, recognises the blemishes of sin in our lives and still loves us.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good – his love is everlasting.
Father God, we are humbled by your love. Thank you for your mercy and grace that forgives sin’s stain in our lives and keeps us in your kingdom. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
Where there’s death, there’s hope
by Tim Klein
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Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat! (2 Samuel 12:21)
Read 2 Samuel 12:15–31
From time to time, we use the phrase ‘Where there’s life, there’s hope.’
But it seems the Lord has other ways of dealing with life, death and hope. Here in today’s word, where there’s death, there’s hope!
While David’s son, born to Uriah’s wife, lies dying, David is fasting and pleading with the Lord for his life. He had hope that the Lord would rescue this child from death. When the child finally dies, David, instead of entering into mourning, gets on with life. Life continues with a new hope, a new way ahead. Solomon, David’s son from Bathsheba, is born. He is also named Jedidiah. This name, given by the Lord through the prophet Nathan, means ‘beloved by the Lord’.
So we have this situation where, while the child from Uriah’s wife is dying, David has hope, and when the child dies, it’s not the end! A new hope emerges: new life, new plans.
That’s how it can be with life and death among us. There’s always something dying – life ebbs away in so many ways. Yet the Lord, with grace and mercy, will be at work doing new things. He says it in Revelation 21:5: ‘He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”’
You could consider some of the things that are dying or broken around you right now. Death is there: from a loved one dying to church decisions with which we disagree to international losses and griefs. In any of these sorts of situations, would you also consider this as true, that while there’s death, there’s hope? Hope for new life, for something new. Hope for the present and future.
Jesus’ death is the death that gives us hope in the middle of our sin and related struggles. In Robin Mann’s song ‘May We Be One’ comes this wonderful truth: ‘Dying our death he restores our life; heaven has begun, he makes us one!’
God of the living and the dead: through Jesus, fill us with new hope every day, even in the face of our dying. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
Living in eternity
by Tim Klein
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive (Luke 20:38).
Read Luke 20:27–38
What an irony, and we can be sure this is not lost on Jesus. Here in Luke 20, the Sadducees, who do not believe in resurrection, ask Jesus a question as if they did believe in resurrection. They are, once again, trying to trap Jesus, and he knows it. Yet Jesus gave them a serious answer: ‘He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.’ Where do they go with that eternal wisdom?
And now to us.
We confess in the creeds that we believe in the resurrection of the dead. What Jesus says is significant for us. He calls us ‘children of the resurrection’ (verse 36). He also calls us ‘people of this age’ who marry and are given in marriage (verse 34). As children of the resurrection, we belong to both ages. We live in the context of eternity. We are people of the age to come, where the Lord’s surpassing riches of grace will be fully revealed (Ephesians 2:7). In our brokenness, we live in this hope.
By God’s grace, I am the husband of one wife – but in this age, that could be another story completely (as the Sadducees described). We all know people to whom God has extended grace and gifted a new partner in life.
We all live with the brokenness of sin and its consequences.
To him, even after we die, we are all alive. In the meantime, we all rely on the never-ending mercy and grace of God. Jesus’ death was for you and me. His resurrection informs us that his sacrifice has paid the price for our sinfulness. He forgives – he lives. His life assures us of life as children of resurrection: here and now, and into eternity.
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because he lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know he holds the future,
And life is worth the living, just because he lives.
–Because he lives by William and Gloria Gaither, 1971, Gaither Music Company
Father, in Jesus’ name, I praise you for all you have done. Keep my eyes fixed on you. Keep hope alive – even when I am caught up in sin. Thank you for your mercy and grace and for the new things you are doing in my life. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.