The king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner… 2 Samuel 3:32
Telling the truth matters when there has been a scandal, but words will be hollow if the one who speaks them does not feel the pain of what has happened.
Everyone saw the depth of David’s sorrow over what had happened to Abner: “David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, ‘Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner…’ They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept” (3:31-32).
Abner had been a thorn in David’s side for years, but when he died this brutal death, David grieved for him. As a result, “all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king’s will to put to death Abner the son of Ner” (3:37).
The people knew this not only because David told the truth, but David mourned deeply over what had happened to Abner. What the people heard in his words they saw in his heart.
Are you in a difficult situation where most people involved would be unable to say this about you: “What the people heard in his words they saw in his heart”?
