Only a Man Named David

 

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life

to something bigger than oneself.” Joseph Campbell

 

Fame, power, and wealth can carry a steep price. Celebrities place great value on how they look and what they wear and how much they make. But they get bored with it all and forget about the important things of life like health, marriage, family and doing things for others. Even Bible characters, even those described as having a heart for God like David was (Acts 13:32), can easily forget God. That was King David. Even the greatest hero or heroine has a sin nature and feet of clay. 

  Oliver Cromwell was a political and military leader in 17^th century England who held the official title “Lord Protector of England.” He once commissioned an artist to paint an official portrait that would enshrine his appearance so that future generations would know what he looked like. It was typical in such portraits for the artist to paint the person’s appearance in a way that made the person more attractive. (It was an early version of photoshop.) According to one famous anecdote, Cromwell told the artist who was painting him to paint him “warts and all.” God’s Word certainly paints its characters warts and all. That’s one way that we know that God is the author. Human authors would have edited out those parts that reveal their evil, failures and foibles.
  That’s certainly the case with David. 2 Samuel continues the account of David, one of the Bible’s greatest heroes – but paints him “warts and all.” While 1 Samuel shares the account of a godly David struggling and on the run for his life because of the sins of others yet still trusting God with a deep faith, 2 Samuel tells the story of that same faith but now it’s needed because David suffers from the consequences of his own sins. The responding mercy and grace of God for a faltering David amplifies the truth of Romans 5:20: “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” David desperately needed God’s grace and so do we.
  We need to hear that message again. Ours is the day of Celebrity Christianity. The Church can’t seem to divorce herself from this People magazine approach to spiritual leaders of today or heroes in the biblical narrative. We hang our hopes on some seemingly great man or woman of God, perhaps a leader of a ministry or church. And when there is a  surrender to the same sin nature that each of us has, other Christians are disillusioned and even abandon Christianity. They had their eyes on a man or woman of faith when Christianity is about Christ.
  The message of 2 Samuel is about walking through with life as a fallen sinner. It means dealing with danger, enemies, jealous friends, marriage, broken relationships, bitter adult children, pride, politics, betrayal, humiliation, rejection, siblings, sickness, sexuality, justice, fear, peace and death. Yet always at the forefront and in the background of circumstances, events and people is God. It’s always God who is there and with whom we deal. God can never be dealt with in some antiseptic, sterile theological laboratory as a specialty of heaven, but in the muck and mud of this earth.
  2 Samuel is simultaneously heavenly and earthly. David’s life doesn’t present us with some sanitized ideal but with a roughed up, scarred life in which we see humanity at its best and its worst. We see God’s hand in the mess of the human situation. Perhaps no other biblical account has the extreme ups and downs than the life of David. It’s a life that hides from God, yet turns to God, comes alive before God, more aware of God and continually responsive to God with a tender, trusting heart.
  David never forgot who really placed him on the throne. Even after experiencing remarkable success in battle, David remained humble. Later in his life, in 2 Samuel, after David was crowned king and had conquered his enemies, the prophet Nathan told him of God’s promise to extend his dynasty forever. David responded in humble prayer: “Who am I, Lord God, and who are the members of my household, that You have brought me this far?” (2 Samuel 7:18). While David knew immense success at everything he went after, he never took the credit or considered himself worthy of greatness. He continually gave all the glory to God. He’s an example to us.
  One of the greatest examples that David gives us is his integrity. He doesn’t blame Saul or that he was the youngest or was mistreated as a young man. Instead, he takes personal responsibility for his sin and failures. He openly admitted when he was wrong and took the blame for his choices. That’s a sign of deep integrity. Even in the church when we’ve been infected with the Adamic blame game, David models for us how to be cured and healed and freed.
  We can never be fully human without God. Contemporary humanity has attempted to jettison God as our Designer and His manual, The Bible, of what it means to have a fulfilled humanity. The results are monstrous. Each human life is a great gift with every part designed by God. It means that every person, every part has a purpose and is blessed by God and life God’s way is meant to be enjoyed and fulfilling.
  We can run from God, but we can’t hide, as David learned. We can’t ever escape God. He’s always there, whether we like it or not. We can act like He doesn’t exist just as one can say that the sun doesn’t exist, but the sun keeps on shining, and God is always there. But what we lose is our humanity and we suffer. Our lives are diminished and impoverished.
  Ultimately, 2 Samuel points us to the future coming “Son of David,” the one true King. Jesus is the pivotal point in all of God’s revelation. He gathers 2 Samuel and all of Scripture into His orbit. He’s the center and provides coherence. Between the lines of 2 Samuel and David is the coming King, King Jesus. 2 Samuel is just another page in His great story!
  As we work through 2 Samuel, we’ll see David with his successes and failures. We’ll see hope and grace. Yet, best of all, we’ll see King Jesus Who is our one true King! Is He your King? 

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Sanitizing History

“One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely

because it does not fit the present.” Golda Meir

  Oliver Cromwell, the great English statesman who led the Parliament of England’s armies against abusive King Charles I during the English Civil War, was not a handsome man and was disfigured by warts upon his face. A court painter who was painting his portrait and thinking to please the great man omitted his disfiguring warts. When Cromwell saw the picture, he said, “Take it away, and paint me warts and all.”

  “Painting warts and all” is one of the major differences between a Christian/biblical worldview and other religions or worldviews. It’s an evidence too of the veracity and inerrancy of the Bible. Throughout the Bible, the heroes and heroines are “painted” with shocking transparency.  Currently, I’m reading 2 Chronicles in my personal devotions. The candor with which God’s Word shares failings of the “good kings” is astonishing.  

  Years ago I remember being warned to have a jaundiced eye when reading an autobiography or a biography written by a relative of the main character. For example, we’d be very surprised if Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President Kennedy wrote a tell-all about her famous father. Although Kennedy carefully cultivated the image of the devoted family man, he was possibly the most prolific philanderer ever to grace the Oval Office. Islam hides the perversity of Muhammad. He married his bride Aisha, at age six, though he reportedly waited until she was nine to be intimate with her. Though as many as 3,000 were massacred by the Red Army at Tiananmen Square protest in 1989 and countless others arrested and imprisoned, there is no monument remembering that horrid loss of life or the cry for freedom that inspired it. Both Hitler and Stalin were outdone in deaths by Mao whose policies led to the deaths of up to 45 million, easily making him the worst mass murderer in history, yet the Chairman is still heroized and his abominable policies still enforced in China.

  It’s why we must value Scripture. Only God’s Word transparently paints its heroes, “warts and all.” Abraham, the friend of God, is reported to be a habitual liar. King David, the man after God’s own heart, was an adulterer and murderer. Other than Jesus Christ, only the prophet Daniel, has no exposed “skeletons in his closet.” The transparency of the Bible demonstrates the validity of Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In other words, we’re all one huge evil mess, even our heroes, and we all have a desperate need for Savior.

  Currently in America we’re watching the purging of our history because leaders from the past don’t fit a contemporary narrative. Attempting to erase those who are not acceptable in contemporary culture is very uneducated. If this anti-intellectual trend continues, in a not too distant future, those who purport it will find themselves purged from our collective historical memory.

  Sanitizing history opens up the infectious potential for repetition. Nazi Holocaust Museums, slave quarters, the bombing of the World Trade Center, all of those and countless other historical accounts, for the future protection of humanity, must be told with the good, the bad, and the ugly.

  Because much of the current historical sanitizing centers on Confederate history, it’s my opinion that it’s a wrong needing to be corrected. Yet, not with the kneejerk reaction of mobs toppling statues, but as a reasoned argument that educates and reminds us of the horrors of slavery and racism.

  The South rebelled against the Union to protect slavery. Confederate leaders should not be heroized or memorialized. For those defending them, I’d ask what they’d think if an American military base in Germany was named the “Rommel Base” after the Nazi military genius. It’d heroize someone who was part of the most abominable culture in modern history.

  Wiping clean our history is inerudite. It’s imperative that we know our history.

  We need our history to educate and instruct us. “To know nothing of what happened before you were born,” warned the ancient philosopher Cicero, “is to forever remain a child.” Learning history roots us in reality—in what actually happened as opposed to what we assume must have happened or wish had happened. America’s history is both awe-inspiring and checkered. It’s awe-inspiring that our forefathers and mothers were willing and often made incredible sacrifices so that we could enjoy the liberty that much of the world still does not have. It’s checkered by horrible acts like slavery or the massacre of native peoples. The study of history has an instructive and protective purpose.

  We need our history to inspire and exhilarate us. Every nation needs heroes. Our children need heroes. Yet, no hero or heroine is untainted. As we learn of those in the past who did the best that they could or knew in the midst of the culture of their day, it should inspire us to take heroic risks, to live and invest in what has true value for the present and future. It can be a journey of discovery to learn of people we’ll never meet and visit places we can never go. They should inspire us to do what we might never do because they did what they also thought that they could never do.

  We need our history to give us perspective. History broadens our horizons and helps us to see beyond the present and often overwhelming demands of the urgent. One historian noted, history “must be our deliverer not only from the undue influence of other times but from the undue influence of our own—from the tyranny of environment and the pressures of the air we breathe.” Excessive focus on the present results in historical myopia. We need history to expand our horizons.

  We need our history to inspire and humble us. Learning of great leaders should be a powerful source of inspiration. The persistence of an Abraham Lincoln to preserve the Union or the vision of a John F. Kennedy should give us a sense of gratitude and motivate us to reach beyond ourselves. The determination of a George Washington against incredible odds should motivate us to persevere.

  Yet, our heroes' blindness and failures must humble and convict us. While Thomas Jefferson’s genius is astounding, his moral insensitivity is tragic.

  For the Bible-believer, it gives us great hope. The failures of even our best leaders remind us why we all need the cross. Their best attempts yet failure to eradicate inequity and injustice remind us that our hope is not in human government but only in our perfectly just God. While we must do the best that we can in this sin contaminated world, we know that human effort will often cause as many ills as it hopes to solve. Our only hope is in a Kingdom not made with hands (2 Cor. 5:1). Until then we do the best we can with the “mud pies” of human frailty and fallibility.  

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.