Good morning! Hope this is a wonderful day for you. The message today is taken from chapter 12 of The Story.
Recently, my husband Charlie and I were out running some errands. Longfellow the dachshund, the little angel dog, was in the car with us, sitting quietly on Charlie's lap. We had previously stopped for coffee and still had a few delicious pastries in a small white bag in the car, which we would finish off later. At least that was the plan. Until......we had to run into another store for something and couldn't take the dog. So there was Longfellow, all alone in the car. All alone......except for the bag of pastries sitting on the floor. Which we had totally forgotten. We got back into the car; Longfellow sat back on Charlie's lap and we just went on with our afternoon. Until I picked up the white bag that was now empty. It looked exactly as it had been before, no rips, no chew marks.....nothing. Completely untouched. Except it was empty. I looked at the little long-nosed not-so-angelic weiner dog sitting on Charlie's lap and said, "Did you eat these?" Of course, he just continued to stare innocently into my eyes. But I knew what he did. Little sneaky guy took what wasn't his and left the bag sitting there looking like it wasn't touched. It was there for the taking, so he took it. He was entitled. At least, that's what he believed.
Today we have a story about a man who thought he was entitled to take what he wanted, too. He is the king that God chose for Israel and he takes that job very seriously. He's handsome, brave, and full of faith in God. Under his leadership, Israel has become a united nation; a feared nation. His armies have kept the encroaching kingdoms away from Israel's borders. According to Samuel 8:14, the LORD gives victory to this king wherever he goes. Larger than life, an honest to God hero, he is everything you could want in a king. His name is David..........the one God considers a man after his own heart. With David reigning over a now united Israel, there is justice and peace throughout the country. Everything is going as perfectly as it can. Life is good.
And then disaster strikes. In his life so far, David has faced lions, bears, that giant Goliath, and enemy kings with large armies. He faced each challenge without fear, knowing that God was with him, protecting him. He is now unstoppable. He has it all......everything he could ever want. Wealthy and powerful, he is surrounded by people who jumped at his commands. Then he sees a woman, a woman who is the wife of another man. She is beautiful and he wants her. so he takes what isn't his, she becomes pregnant, he tries to hide his wrongdoing, and he arranges for the husband to die in the battle field.
Why would he jeopardize his standing as king? Why would he sin against God like this? He has broken several commandments with his actions. He has coveted another man's wife; he committed adultery; he had an innocent man, a good man, killed so his sin would not be found out. David, the man who relied on God for his safety, actually now thinks he is entitled to take what he wants, even though deep inside him he knows what he is doing is wrong. Dead wrong. In his position as king, he has now put himself above the law. His own desires now take a higher precedence than being a servant of the living God. He has misused his authority as king to serve his own needs.
Well, he gets caught. God, from whom N.O.T.H.I.N.G., absolutely nothing is hidden, calls him out on what he's done. He sends Nathan, the prophet, after him. Nathan confronts David with his wrongdoing, "Why have you despised the word of the LORD to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites." (2 Samuel 11:9) Then Nathan goes to tell David the punishment that will be heaped upon David's head: David took Uriah's woman in secret; God is going to take all of David's women away from him and give them to David's neighbor, right out in the open, shaming him before the whole nation.
David repents. Truly repents. He has the courage to face the enormity of the sin he committed. He writes in Psalm 51:1,2. " Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." He admits his sin against God, "For I know my transgression and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight." (Psalm 51:3,4)
We know that David gets to keep his wives, but his child with Bathsheba dies and nothing is ever the same again. The children of the royal house of David run amok; rape, murder, and rebellion are now part of the family's narrative.
Where are we in this story? Are we any less sinful than David? No. Of course not. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5:21-22,27-28 "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment'. But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say,'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire." You have heard it said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
So that's where we are in the story. if we think that we are above God's law, if we think that we are entitled to think what we like, as long as we don't act on those thoughts, we're wrong. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. is hidden from God. Nothing. That's the bad news.
The good news is that there is hope for us to overcome and move past our unworthy thoughts and desires. While David was a bad example of resisting temptation, there is another king that we can look to for much better guidance. Today we are observing Christ the King Sunday. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior is the God has chosen for us who will never let us down, who will never sin secretly, who will never put his own needs before ours, who will never, never feel entitle to sin against the Father or use his power for himself. We know that by his life. He resisted temptation in the desert and through his ministry, even when he was nailed to a cross. He could have had the same life David did, but chose a better way. According to Philippians 2:8-11. "He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
And, even better news, we have been empowered from on high to overcome. We don't have to be stuck in our old lives; we don't have to be stuck in hidden lives. There's hope for us all. No one is beyond God's reach. No one at all. But....... if we do fall, we can go to our merciful God and ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ.
So today, remember that you don't have to be like Longfellow and King David and secretly take what is not yours. Instead, take what God has freely and abundantly given you, share the gifts, spiritual and material with those who are in need. Go in peace this week. Amen.