I can’t remember the first time I got on a riding lawn mower but I’m pretty sure it was at the house we built when we were literally newlyweds. The Sweetheart would get on that little red Snapper and away he would go, making perfect stripes in the grass, aligning himself with the rest of perfect Americana. Only thing missing was the white picket fence.

He let me take a few swipes but he wasn’t one to share much when it involved being outside working on his farmers tan. Besides, this was a man’s job.

Fast forward a few years when he was finally too busy with his career, and commuting an hour one way, to keep up with the yard. We now owned seven acres, about 1/3 was wooded, and a stocked pond took up some of the mowing space as well, but it was still quite a bit to manicure every week.

Enter Yours Truly.

My father-in-law had the sweetest John Deere tractor that they all considered too big for me to ride. I begged, I pleaded and probably whined a whole lot until The Sweetheart gave in. I literally felt like Queen of the Mountain on that tractor. I could solve all of life’s problems while I was mowing grass. Aside from one of My Three Sons occasionally flagging me down for something trivial, such as, “Mom! We’re out of Kool-aid!” or for something serious, “Mom!! Come quick! Kristopher is bleeding BAAADDDD!” I had a few glorious hours to myself. It was heaven on earth.

I had opportunity to mow my mother-in-law’s property a few years ago. My husbands brother had a zero turn mower and it took me just a few minutes to learn it and I was on my way to making sure every blade of grass, or weed, appeared as if they had just received an expensive haircut. I love seeing the before and after of a well-cut lawn and just being outside is great for this gal whose Vitamin D level is extremely low. Once again I am Queen, if only for a little while.

A few weeks ago I was dodging tree limbs and buzzing around crabapples, pines and oaks like nobody’s business. It took me only a few minutes to learn a zero-turn mower but I have it down now and can handle it as easily as all the Deere’s I’ve ever maneuvered over the years.

Except for one problem.

I tend to forget about the balance bar on the back sometimes. I duck my head and breeze under a branch and forget that the bar doesn’t duck. It’s dangerous, to say the least. I learned that lesson the hard way by almost flipping it completely over one day. Terrified doesn’t begin to describe my feelings in that instant. So now I watch out for him and he watches out for me.

Except for one problem.

I have this mess on top of my head that resembles a bird’s nest, especially when I am flying up and down the yard at 90 miles per hour. (Okay, I know they don’t go that fast but a girl can pretend, right?) So these pesky branches, especially the crab-apples, love to grab hold of me, as I make a perfect circle, and they do not let go.

So one day, instead of the bar getting stuck in a branch, I was stuck. Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin, but my blonde, brunette and gray curly locks piled on top of my head were tangled in the worst way in a tree branch that was determined to win.

I’m sure the neighbors were enjoying the site as I sat there fighting with a tree. I wasn’t about to give up a single strand to this captor!

I read about another story similar to mine this week during morning devotion. I hadn’t thought of Absalom in a long time but his story is worth telling.

Absalom was the son of King David but he was determined to take the throne from his father. David finally had to do something about it and his army was sent out to fight Absalom’s men. David pleads with Joab, the commander of his army, in 2 Samuel 18:5 ESV: “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.”

The battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s men that day; the loss was great. The Bible says 20,000 men perished in that first battle! “The battle raged all across the countryside, and more men died because of the forest than were killed by the sword.” 2 Samuel 18: 8 NLT.

More men died because of the forest than were killed by the sword? How could that be?

Spurgeon expounds on what could have happened in the woods that day: “Perishing not only by the sword, but among the thick oaks and tangled briers of the wood, which concealed fearful precipices and great caverns, into which the rebels plunged in their wild fright when the rout set in.”

Adam Clarke’s commentary says, “It is generally supposed that, when the army was broken, they betook themselves to the wood, fell into pits, swamps, and so forth, and being entangled, were hewn down by David’s men; but the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic, state that they were devoured by wild beasts in the wood.”

God was with David’s men and fought for them in miraculous and mysterious ways to defeat the enemy that wanted to destroy the man of God.

2 Samuel 14:25 gives us a description of Absalom: “In all Israel there was none to be so much praised for his beauty: from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.”

It seems difficult to understand how Absalom could turn the hearts of the Israelites from David, whom God had anointed king. This passage sheds some light on Absalom’s trickery:

“…And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you…your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him…So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” 2 Samuel 15:1-6.

But Absalom’s reign of terror was about to come to an end in this battle in the forest.

“During the battle, Absalom happened to come upon some of David’s men. He tried to escape on his mule but as he rode beneath the thick branches of a great tree, his hair got caught in the tree. His mule kept going and left him dangling in the air.” 2 Samuel 18:9 NLT.

Absalom, proud of his good looks (and his beautiful hair), didn’t pay attention to the great trees of the forest and they literally reached out and grabbed hold of him. There he hung in the air, unable to free or defend himself.

Remember David’s plea of protection to bring Absalom in alive? Here was Joab’s opportunity to honor God’s anointed by bringing him his son to judge and punish as he saw fit. But Joab had other ideas. He took three daggers and plunged them deep into Absalom’s heart as he dangled, still alive, from the tree! If that wasn’t enough, ten of Joab’s young armor bearers then surrounded Absalom and attacked him, making sure he was dead.

2 Samuel 18:16: “During his lifetime, Absalom had built a monument to himself in the King’s Valley…”

Absalom was all about Absalom and HIS kingdom. His earthly father, David, was a “man after God’s own heart.” Big difference. Absalom’s pride and arrogance cost him his life. He became entangled in the forest by the things that he valued the most. To Absalom, that was himself.

“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Proverbs 8:13.

“In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.”  Psalm 10:4 ESV.

If you continually ignore the nudging of the Holy Ghost, eventually you will no longer recognize His voice; you will be consumed by your own ways, your own ideas and your own solutions to your problems. But a mindset like that always leads to self-destruction that can also harm others. The Bible says that “…pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.” Proverbs 3:7

“I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.” Isaiah 13:11.

“Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.” 1 Samuel 2:3.

The same thing that cost Absalom his life caused Satan to be cast out of heaven: Pride. They both wanted to be something that they were not, they both wanted to take authority that wasn’t theirs to have. They both thought they could do a better job. In Satan’s case, he thought he could do better than God!

“Well, I would never do that…” And yet, don’t we all do that in our actions every day? Don’t we plunge head first, so to speak, into situations and problems without even consulting the Lord for His advice and opinion? Are we so busy in the morning that we think checking social media is more important than our devotion and prayer time? These are all prideful attitudes that shout out, “I don’t need God! I can handle this; I’ll come to Him for the bigger things.”

Yes, we DO need Him for everything; the big, the little and the in-between because we are all dependent upon the One who created the Universe. Pride can cause us to be tangled up in ourselves and think we have everything under control.

Let’s humble ourselves before Jesus and allow Him to remove prideful thoughts and attitudes from our hearts before they cause our demise. This is no time to become tangled in the forest! There is much work to do, the coming of the Lord is near, and being full of pride will keep us from hearing the voice of the Lord and being available for the Kingdom and could cause our eternal destruction.

Living Proverbs 31