Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. An old friend from Texas once described

another person as all hat, no cattle. All hat, no cattle. Now, as someone who's not from the Lone Star State,

I was massively confused and had to ask what she meant by that. She told me that this colloquialism

from Texas describes someone who puts on a big external display of greatness that turns out,

in the end, to be a kind of greatness that is

brittle and barren. Like someone who alleges to be a great Texas rancher wearing a big old hat,

yet has no real cattle to back up the persona. To be all hat, no cattle, is to be mighty in appearance, but meager in substance.

In some ways, that describes the longing for self-constructed greatness in every person

who lives under the shadow of sin. And it's a particularly fitting description of one of David's

sons, Absalom, a man with big talk and big

plans to overthrow his father as the king of Israel. But as we consider our passage today,

we see the meager substance of self-constructed greatness exposed before us. And at the same time, we see a real

lasting greatness that's worth trusting with everything we have. As we approach God's word, let's

pause and ask for His grace to move through our time. Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life and breath, and thank you for

your word. We bring before you our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety, and our excitement, our

calendars and our contingencies. And God, we ask you to meet us in this space. Jesus help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to meet us in this space. Jesus help us abide in you as we engage with your

truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time that we have in 2nd Samuel.

As we read these words, let these words read us and restore us. In Jesus' name second samuel eighteen begins with david gathering his men to go and fight his son

and the challenger to the throne of israel absalom and as david prepares to send his army, he makes a striking statement to his commanders in

verse 5. He says, deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.

Now this is a command of compassion that rings out from the king's heart into the ears of

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