2 Samuel 21-22

(July 17, 2014)

                It is difficult to read the psalm David sings in the second of these chapters knowing that David has already forfeited his Exaltation by this point.  It is heartrending, knowing what David could have been and to instead see him as he is – how he cannot see himself.  Reading through the words, you see hints of the pride that ultimately had him place his own selfish interests ahead of the life of his longtime friend, whom he murdered to protect his dalliance with Bathsheba.  “Strangers shall submit themselves unto me.” “It is God…that bringeth down the people under me.”

                It is a cautionary tale for each of us.  We each – all of us – have our own blind spots.  We may feel, as does David, that we are right before the Lord.  Yet lurking just behind our professions of piety is our tragic flaw – that defect that threatens to destroy us until and unless we are willing to give that flaw up to the Lord.  For none of us are ever righteous enough to make it on our own, and to the extent we try we are destroyed.  We must give everything to the Lord, and we must be prepared to continue to do so each and every day of our lives.  Then Grace can overcome our flaws such that we can overcome these weaknesses and escape the pit that David could not escape.