Passage Read: 1 Chronicles 19-22
Meditation Verses: 21:3-4
Thought
Joab gets some things right and some things very wrong. He killed two army commanders to protect his position. He sided with Adonijah against Solomon to inherit David's throne. But he was a very successful and diligent army commander. And here, he understood, for whatever reason, that David's desire to number the people was a bad idea. He had enough boldness to urge the king against this thing, but the king's word prevailed, and Joab submitted, for the most part. Because the command was so abhorrent to him, he didn't finish the job, but left Benjamin and Levi uncounted. In the end, Joab was proved right, in that the Lord brought judgment on the land because of David's command.
Application
It is right to submit to authority in everything, but not blindly. There will be times where my conscience may not allow me to follow an instruction, and I need to speak up. I may be right, I may be wrong, but I need to be sure my authority is making the best decision. And I need to do so in a way that honors that authority. It helps if I am characterized by full submission and honor, then if I have a question or concern about an instruction, my director might be more inclined to re-evaluate their command based on my concerns. But if I'm regularly questioning this command and that instruction and this idea and that thought, my authority may reject out of hand when I have a legitimate concern.