“The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” - Psalm 34:18 (NIV)
If there is a daring character that had a lot of gumption few fit King David. Once he saw Goliath the Philistine giant who had thrown terror among the Israelis he had nothing but pour scorn. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God” (1 Sam 17:26). When his eldest brother Eliab tried to slow him down he just shrugged, “Can’t I even speak?” (Verse 29). Then he went to fight the giant.
When the ark was brought to the City and he freely danced in his priestly garments only for his wife Micah, the daughter of King Saul, to rebuke him, David without missing a beat retorted back, “I was dancing before the Lord who chose me above your father and all his family” ( 2 Sam 6:21).
However, when the man who apparently feared no one, it was brought to his attention by Prophet Nathan that he had committed a great sin of having an innocent man Uriah the Hittite murdered so as to take his wife, we see a different David. “Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam 22:13).
Later David would pour out his heart in a moving Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. My sacrifice O God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, you O God will not despise ...”
King David shows us that whatever we might think of ourselves or our status once we slip and we recognize our sin we should never hesitate to drop on our knees with a broken heart. Then the Almighty God will lift us up.
Prayer for today: Lord God father of Abraham today I pray in the blessed name of Jesus to know that yours is the business of lifting up the broken hearted.
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
