DAY 115

WEARINESS

2 Samuel 21 & 22 and Luke 18:24 – 43

It has been a long day. I finished up with hospital visits around 9 pm tonight and I am working on this blog to post for tomorrow. As I read the story of David one of my thoughts is that this just keeps going, is there every any peace? Partly I get this feeling because so much of David’s reign is compressed into a few short pages. Partly I get this feeling because he did not have that much peace during his kingship.

We read how he is now facing a famine. He inquires of the Lord and finds out it is because something Saul did! We might cry “not fair,” but that is not how God works.

In the days of Joshua - more than 400 years before David's time - Israel swore not to harm the Gibeonites, a neighboring tribe (Joshua 9). God expected Israel to keep their promise, even though the Gibeonites tricked Israel into making the agreement. Saul's crime was not only in the killing of the Gibeonites but also in breaking this ancient and important oath

This massacre isn't recorded in 1 Samuel, but David didn't question that it happened. Apparently at some time during his reign Saul attacked and killed many of the Gibeonites.

David and the Gibeonites come to an agreement. If you look at the text closely you will see David not demanding anything; he makes himself subservient to the Gibeonites. The “agreement” is to have seven of Saul’s son’s hanged. This was done. One of the wives grieved openly and David showed compassion by ensuring a proper burial.

We then come upon more war; war with the Philistines…the killing of the four giants…and the six fingered man! In this story we read of David’s weariness and he actually retires from “active service.” In the victory over the Philistines David offers a song of deliverance: “With the merciful you show yourself merciful…For you are my lamp, O Lord, and my God lightens my darkness.”

I am imagining that David is hopeful that he might have finally settled accounts; might it be a time of peace and this weary soul might rest?

I am not sure what tomorrow’s readings will hold regarding that question. As I turn to the New Testament I come across the end of the “rich young man” story that we began yesterday. Here we see the disciples worried about their status.

Jesus assures them that they are with Him, but then He tells them exactly what the implications of “being with him are” as He foretells his death a third time…but they understood nothing (verse 34).

Sometimes I think the Gospel writers have a sense of irony. As the people with Jesus are “blind to see” what He is showing them, a blind man appears on the scene and cries out “Son of David.” That title is “loaded with meaning.” The man who cannot see clearly perceives Jesus as Messiah and King – Son of David is a royal title. It was just a few days ago the religious were saying, “Tell us plainly, are you the Messiah.” It seems as this chap already knows!

I started today with sharing a sense of my weariness. Amazingly Jesus does not seem weary. If I were in his shoes I think I would have lost my patience with the blindness of the world, but He does not. And maybe that is the lesson today – God does not grow weary. In Isaiah 40 we read that even young men grow tired and weary, they stumble and fall, but those who Trust in the Lord will renew their strength…sounds like a plan!