“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Once we’ve walked a path of evil-hearted foolishness, experienced the pain of God-delivered justice, come to a moment of humbly-righteous repentance, what comes next? Well, that depends. On what, you ask? It depends on to whom it is we’ve repented.
Read the rest…
“So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Have you ever tried to worship with an angry heart? That’s no small task. In fact, I dare say it is an impossible one. Worshiping the Lord is something that should happen primarily between us and the Lord. Worshiping angry, like doing just about anything angry, is a recipe for not doing it very well. Jesus here offers us a solution. But hold on tight because it sounds pretty radical.
Read the rest…
“Now therefore arise, go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The emotions and politics of this chapter are complex. It is filled with grace and also tension. David is rebuilding his kingship after Absalom had done much damage to it in his rebellion. We’d like to think this was a nice, neat little endeavor since that’s how so many of our stories today are written, but it was not. Whereas so many of our stories stop with the victory, this gives us a glimpse of what comes after the victory has been won.
Read the rest
“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…
“Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.”” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Have you ever done something good only to have it blow up in your face? Have you ever given of yourself somehow to help someone else only to have them either throw it back in your face or else stab you in the back later? There’s an old adage that one good turn deserves another, but more often life seems to work out by way of a more cynical adage: No good deed goes unpunished. Read the rest…
The Nexus 