THE LORD SPOKE (May 6)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: II Samuel 9-11

Blow-outs are rare. Much more often, a flat tire is the result of a slow leak. All too often, we even know about it beforehand but fail to take care of it. This chapter is a sad record of David's failure. We can learn much from observing it if we do something to fix the slow leaks in our own lives.

Here's how it came about:

1. "at the time kings go off to war...David remained in Jerusalem" (II Sam. 11:1) - being in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the wrong things
2. "one evening (Heb. = "moment of evening", i.e. late afternoon) David got up from his bed" (II Sam. 11:2a) - sleeping when he should have been leading the battle
3. "saw...sent...[sinned]" (II Sam. 11:2-4) - sounds like the progression of sin in I John 2:16
4. "so David sent this word..." (II Sam. 11:6f) - imagine the contorted machinations David had to go through to devise this plan (he even had a Plan B and a Plan C ready)
5. he hardened himself (II Sam. 11:11) - look at what he had to ignore:

• the Ark which was his link back to Samuel and which he loved and brought to Jerusalem
• all Israel who loved him deeply and followed him
• Judah, his own tribe and the people who proclaimed him king first
• tents, he was an outdoor-type and loved to be "camped in the open fields" with his men
• Joab, his faithful general
• the men whom he'd fought with and who had risked their lives for him

All of these were powerful reminders. It's as if God was saying, "Are you sure you want to give up all this?" It's the I Cor. 10:13 in this passage! Instead, David:

• made sure Uriah was killed dead
• implicated others (Joab, lower officers, the messengers) in the cover-up
• pulled out a farcical explanation ("it's too bad, but people die in war")
• followed through in his adultery

"But the thing David had done displeased the Lord." (II Sam. 11:27b).

As a boy, I memorized two verses (the second one was on a plaque over my bed) that helped me many times to keep from sinning: "Be sure your sin will find you out" (Num. 32:23) and "Thou God seest me" (Gen. 16:13). Oh God, don't let me ever forget that truth. Help me detect and fix those slow leaks.


New Testament: Romans 9

It sounds like doublespeak. “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” (Rom. 9:6). That is, it sounds like it unless you read the attached explanation. Then it becomes very clear.

Abraham has physical descendants through Isaac (a not-to-be-forgotten theological truth for our day!) but these “natural children” are only considered “God’s children” if they are “children of the promise” (Rom. 9:8). And how does that happen? Paul already answered that back in chapter four. If they “believe the promise of God” and have “the faith of their father Abraham” they are Abraham’s offspring (Rom. 4:13-24). If not, then they’re not!

Now Romans 9 introduces another thought: ”God’s purpose in election” (Rom. 9:11). It is illustrated by the story of Jacob and Esau. God chose Jacob but He rejected Esau (Rom. 9:13). Natural man reacts to the truth of election in two ways and Paul answers both in this chapter. First, many will say, “that’s not fair”. We have the idea somehow that everyone deserves something better, that all men should have the same chance, that justice requires that every individual be “equally elect”. But Paul has labored up this point in the book to prove exactly the opposite! All men are sinners. All are condemned. There is no solution, or hope, or ghost of a chance for natural man apart from God’s regenerating work. We all and only deserve damnation. God, in His mercy and grace, has reached down and snatched some - the Scripture says “many” - for salvation. This is His sovereign action, and choice, and power, and right. “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Rom. 9:18).

So that leads to man’s second objection: “Then why does God still blame us? For who can resist his will?” (Rom. 9:19). If it’s as you say, how can we be held accountable? Paul has already answered that question also. Back in chapter one he demonstrates how and why man is accountable for his own sin. Here in chapter nine, he’s quite blunt. Read it for yourself in Romans 9:20. Twice Paul quotes from Hosea, and twice from Isaiah, to prove his point - he could have gone to hundreds of other texts for it’s written on every page; God is sovereign and man a sinner, so salvation is of the Lord.

And don’t forget the punch line here! This salvation has been extended to Gentiles also (Rom. 9:24,30). By the infinite grace of God the door of salvation has been opened to us also.