David repents again

Despite being referred to as "a man of God's own heart," David, of course, was far from perfect. His most scandalous episode involved his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband. But, following that episode, David famously repented, and had his sin washed away.

Note that David's confession does not take the form of some complicated speech to God, nor does it involve deep philosophy. He just repents.

Another depressing episode, appearing toward the end of 2 Samuel, has David ordering a census of his kingdom. The census, itself, was not sinful. Rather, David's haughty attitude in wishing to quantify his power showed a disregard for God's role in the accumulation of that power.

Yet, when David become aware of his sin, he follows the same script as the Bathsheba affair -- his just repents (2 Samuel 24:10, KJV),

David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

David's life, both the positives and negatives, serves as a prime example of how we should approach God. Let us do likewise.

Canst not tell whence it cometh

The bible includes several passages that emphasize our inability to understand heavenly matters. One example occurs in the book of Judges, when an angel announces to Samson's parents that they will have a son. Samson's dad asks the angel his name, to which the angel replies (Judges 13:18, KJV),

Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

The Hebrew word translated as "secret" means something close to "incomprehensible."

Another example occurs in John 3, when Jesus is dining with Nicodemus. Nicodemus expresses confusion about people being "born again" with the spirit of God. How can that actually happen? Jesus responds (John 3:8, KJV),

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Jesus says that, although we hear the wind, we neither know where it comes from nor where it goes. And the same goes for the spirit of God.

Passages such as these serve to remind us that we should adopt a humble attitude toward spiritual matters. The point of faith is not to understand everything. Rather, the point simply is to believe and trust in God.

God reaffirms our faith

Judges 7 finds the Israelites facing the large, intimidating Midianite army. (Their count was "without number"!) Gideon, the Israelite leader, has an army of only 300 men, so things look dire! But God tells Gideon (Judges 7:7, KJV),

I [will] save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand.

Gideon, faced with such improbable odds, probably struggles to really believe this. But then a member of the Midianite army has a vision in a dream, and an interpreter conveys the meaning that dream to Gideon (Judges 7:14, KJV),

This is ... the sword of Gideon ... for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.

Gideon, encouraged by this message, proceeds to worship God and eventually defeat the Midianites.
 
The amazing part of the story is that, rather than punish Gideon for his (understandable) doubt, God seeks to boost his faith by sending Gideon a reaffirming message. And this is after God has already told Gideon that he will defeat the Midianites.

The larger message, as it seems, is that God understands our day-to-day weaknesses in faith. And, if we keep our hearts open to him, he'll send reaffirmations to boost our faith.

...asked not counsel of the Lord

Life, of course, is not always easy. Jesus acknowledges as much when he says (Matthew 6:34, KJV),

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

But we don't have to confront those daily troubles alone. God not only offers his help, he requires that we seek his help.

Turning to Chapter 9 of Joshua, we find the Israelites entering into an ill-advised treaty with the Gibeonites. God already has forbidden such treaties, but the Gibeonites present a convincing, albeit deceptive, case for establishing a peace treaty.

When confronted with a morally ambiguous situation, the Israelites should have consulted God. They didn't have to make that decision on their own. Instead (Joshua 9:14, KJV),

[They] asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.

And, ultimately, the Israelites' habit of acquiescing to their neighbors -- against God's explicit orders -- resulted in spiritual rot and the eventual demise of the Israelite kingdom.

Let us not follow that path. Whatever difficult scenarios we encounter, let us "ask counsel at the mouth of the LORD." We can do so through never-ceasing prayer! 

A command near to us

God's main command to us is explicitly stated in Deuteronomy 30:16 (KJV),

I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply.

In the same chapter, God emphasizes that this is not some distant, esoteric diktat, but rather a command that we already know and understand because it has been written in our hearts (verse 11-14, KJV),

This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven ... neither is it beyond the sea ... But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

This is why sin causes such guilt and shame; it goes against the very spirit put into us. We must listen to that spirit, and that is achieved through never-ceasing prayer!

Jesus removes the "Legion"

In Mark 5:1-20, Jesus encounters a man possessed by many demons. The man seems in especially rough shape (verse 5, KJV),

Always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

When Jesus asks his name, the demons answer (verse 9, KJV),

My name is Legion: for we are many.

Jesus then orders the demons out of the man and into a herd of nearby pigs. The pigs, now possessed, proceed to drown themselves in a lake.

It's a strange story, and I can't claim to completely grasp the full theology of the event. (The role of the pigs especially confuses me, although perhaps their "unclean" label holds some kind of importance.)

The larger message, as I see it, centers on the fact that we, as sinners, are in a similar state to that of the demon-possessed man. Like him, we are beset by our own legion of sinful behaviors. And they are many! The path to freedom from those demons comes not from our own power, but from the mercy of God.

After Jesus removes the legion, the people (verse 15, KJV),

see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind.

And thus the reward for trusting in that cleansing power! We, too, can find ourselves in our "right minds," and the path is easy. Just believe.

Lessons from Philemon

Owing to its brevity and personal nature, Paul's letter to Philemon is easy to overlook. But closer inspection of the letter reveals some important spiritual insights.

In the letter, a slave named Onesimus has wronged his master Philemon and fled to Paul. (The letter does not specify Onesimus' wrong -- much to Paul's credit -- but the transgression must have been relatively serious to warrant Onesimus' running away from Philemon.)

The letter basically is Paul's appeal for Philemon to forgive Onesimus and take him back. But Paul pushes a step further, by requesting Philemon to accept Onesimus not as his former slave status, but as an equal (Philemon: 15-16, KJV),

He ... departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved.

This seemingly personal story has corollaries to our relationship with God. Like Onesimus to Philemon, we are subservient to God and dependent upon him for survival. Also like Onesimus, we sin against our master, which brings us far away from him. But rather than destroying us, as we deserve, God forgives us, and even restores us to a higher state as heirs to his kingdom!

Paul's letter does not report what happened when Onesimus returned to Philemon, but assuming Philemon followed Paul's advice, Onesimus must have expressed his heartfelt thanks. Let us do likewise toward God for his forgiveness.