Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 6:14

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“And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever gotten so wrapped up in a moment that you forgot about yourself and were totally and purely enjoying it? Have you ever gotten so excited about something that you forget about all the masks and behavior filters you usually wear that you let yourself show all of the excitement you actually felt? It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does it is unfailingly an interesting experience. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 29:4

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“But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

How you ever been right on the cusp of doing something foolish you couldn’t undo and got stopped right before you did it? David and his men had been living among the Philistines for several months now. They headed there when David’s faith failed and he gave way to doubt in God’s promise to make him king or that Saul was ever really going to stop hunting him down until he was dead. And although the group had not participated in any raids against their own people, they were becoming comfortable in their new home; comfortable enough that they were preparing to join the Philistines in a battle against the Israelites. Once they did that, there was no going back. Israel’s future king would never ascend to the throne. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 3:39

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“And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

David handled the whole affair of Abner’s death in a way that was politically very smart. But, morally speaking, things aren’t quite so cut and dried. In our image-obsessed culture today, this story should really resonate. Today, the optics of our responding to injustice is often thought to be more important than its actual substance. But for David and also for us, God’s concern is just the opposite. If the substance isn’t there, the optics are irrelevant. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Samuel 28:13-14

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“The king said to her, ‘Do not be afraid. What do you see?’ And the woman said to Saul, ‘I see a god coming up out of the earth.’ He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, ‘An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.’ And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This is one of the most intriguing stories in the whole of the Old Testament to me. What exactly we are to make of this story isn’t at all clear at first read…or at second or third or fourth read either for that matter. In over a third of a century worth of listening to sermons I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a preacher tackle it. We’re usually taught both in the church and out that this kind of stuff is not real and cannot happen. And yet, here the Scriptures present it as happening. What gives? Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 3:6

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“While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

In what follows here we see an almost Game of Thrones style transition of power from Saul to David. The two houses are at war, there’s trouble within one house, jealousy leads to accusations that may or may not be false but which lead to permanent rifts, there are sides being swapped, old wounds being nursed, long-simmering hatreds being acted upon, and the list goes on from there. The question it leads me to ask is what on earth is this kind of stuff doing in the Bible?!? Read the rest…