Suggested Readings: Psalm 17, 1 Chronicles 21:1-17, 1 John 2:1-6
I often think of God, but do I “know God in person”, or like an acquaintance among my current meaningful relationships? After reading 1 Chronicles 21:1-13, I wonder if King David, once described as a man after God’s own heart, drifted into the acquaintance perspective. This story unfolds while “Satan stood against Israel” and he “incited David '' to look to his own numbers rather than his trust in God.
It is understandable how a King would be tempted to rely on his many troops. I can see how I live like a King with all the conveniences and technologies I can rely on to meet my daily needs. When he faced the Truth, David confessed, “I have sinned greatly...Please let your hand, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.” The reality of Satan’s scheme to use David’s self-reliance to bring the calamity of his sin’s consequences upon Israel was revealed to David.
David needed a remembrance of his relationship with God. Psalm 17 records one remembrance: "Hear a just cause, O LORD....Let your eyes behold the right!...I call upon you, for you will answer...Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings”. David’s earlier “desert experience” was a resource, yet temptation comes in vulnerable, worldly moments. Gospel accounts echo how Christ would later exemplify how Godly trust brings us through times of testing instead of turning to our own abilities or opportunities at hand.
In 1 John 2:1-6 the apostle says,
My little children, I am writing these words to you so that you may not sin.
This is our Hope and the Truth entering this world is, “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “His is the propitiation for our sins”, and in today’s readings I am reminded again that I am restored in Christ’s perfect obedience to our Father who, when I am honestly admitting I am not able, can “keep me as the apple of His eye”, and “hide me in the shadow of his wings.” I pray that during this time of reflection, we grow ever more open to receiving the awareness of His presence and grace and become one who “abides in Him” so that we might “walk in the same way in which he walked.”
Tom Lowing
