Digging in Deeper: 2 Samuel 11:4

“So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

There are two things worth noting about this verse. Both speak rather directly to where our culture is today. One focuses on the sin and one moves past that to life afterwards. One is a reminder that the #MeToo moment is an important reckoning for our culture to have. The other grounds us in the fact that grace is big and one person’s #MeToo moment need not define the rest of his or her life. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 11:5-6

“And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’ So David sent word to Joab, ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite.’ And Joab sent Uriah to David.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

In Genesis 3, Moses writes that when Adam and Eve each took a bite of the fruit from the forbidden tree, the first thing they did was to hide. They were ashamed. They covered themselves up, and then, when God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day as was His custom, they hid from Him too. Sin does that. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 11:2-3a

“It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

You’ve experienced it before. You finish dinner and you’re stuffed. To the gills. Any more food and you just might pop. And then the table next to you has their dessert delivered. It looks amazing. A huge brownie that you can see from a table over is just the right amount of gooey. A heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream centered perfectly on top of it that it just beginning to melt down the sides because the brownie is obviously fresh from the oven. And over the top of the whole thing a little drizzle of caramel sauce. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: 2 Samuel 11:1

“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)‬‬

David was not where he should have been. He was the leader of the armies of Israel. When they went out to battle, he was supposed to be at the front of the lines leading them valiantly. He had done this before many times over. But this time, while he was licking his wounds from the offense of King Hanun of the Ammonites, his troops were defending his pride without him. David was not where he should have been. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 2 Samuel 1:14-16

“David said to him, ‘How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the Lord ‘s anointed?’ Then David called one of the young men and said, ‘Go, execute him.’ And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, ‘Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, “I have killed the Lord ‘s anointed.”’”  (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

I’ll be honest: I’ve been wrestling with this little story. I’m still not totally sure what to do with it. There are several different things to consider when trying to make sense of it. The truth is, though, sometimes even after we’ve considered all the different factors, we still can’t fully get our heads and hearts around a particular hard passage, and that’s okay. Here’s what I have so far. Read the rest…