2 Samuel 11-12

Persons who may know only a smidgeon of the Bible recall the story of the shepherd boy who would slay a giant in the battlefield and later become a king. As a man his legend grew among the Hebrew nation and we can read today his psalms that sometimes implore mercy but more often praise and glorify God and his creation so magnificently. So how could he allow the horrible deed to ever begin? Were there small steps towards the ultimate sins? Was he simply given too much unlimited power? Did he ever ponder, "Oh, if I had simply gone to war with my men? If I had been about kingly responsibilities instead of coveting Bathsheba? Why did I force her to come to me? How could I have done the horrible deeds to brave and loyal Uriah?"

And then there's Uriah the Hittite. My commentary explains that his name means, "Flame of the Lord" or "The Lord is Light." A man who embraced and valued the faith and God of the Hebrews. As was the custom of the Hittites, he would not voluntarily take leave from the Ark and his men in battle to be with his wife. A respected and valued warrior, he was also an honorable and righteous man. So much more righteous than his king. And to think as David plotted his death, he had Uriah carry his own death plan back to the battlefield.

These scriptures cover some of the most tragic series of events in Biblical history. Was David haunted with guilt? In 2 Samuel 11-12, we learn that it took the bravery of the prophet Nathan to confront his king. Later, David would have sincere regrets and he would suffer tremendous loss from his cover-up and misdeeds. But we learn that his confession to God with a contrite heart and his confession to God and his people through Psalm 51, helped to begin the healing and cleansing of his heart. Helped to save his soul.

May God provide us windows of escape to flee from sin and the wisdom to respect the Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit within us to resist sin. For sin indeed is our human condition. And may we practice sincere confession to God. For we all fall short of His glory and are in need of His mercy.

sg

Interesting Article

Praying for everyone attending the Disciple class.  I also wanted to pass along an article that may be of interest to those in the class. It can be found at: http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=7927

To God be the glory!

David

Disciple Bible Study Scriptures

For those who may be interested in the scriptures read in the Disciple Bible Study, below is a sampling from the first 2 weeks.  Please note that Biblical history and more detailed additional information studied is not included here. 

• Psalm 84; Hosea 11; Exodus 15:1-18; 1 Kings 19:1; 1Chronicles 22; Acts 9; Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5-6; Micah 4; Philemon; Luke 15
• Genesis 1:1-2; 3; Genesis 2:4-25; Psalm 8; Psalms 19:1-6:33; Job 38-39; 40:15-41:34; Psalms 104;150; John 1:1-5

Please say a prayer for the study group committing their time and hearts for the next 34 weeks.  Thank you and God bless!

sg

Welcome Disciples!

We thought a blog dedicated just to the Disciple Study would be appropriate. A place to post questions and comments and share in this journey. Hope to hear from you soon.

Psalm 84

Sheila's post shared from http://www.shegardens.blogspot.com/ ...

Tonight we discussed Psalm 84, one of the Psalms of Zion that celebrated God's presence in Jerusalem. Thankfully today it is not necessary to travel to the temple to draw near to God. We can pray and sing our praises to Him at anytime - anywhere when we accept the invitation to have Christ in our lives. Have you ever experienced so much joy that a spontaneous song of praise sprang forth from your heart? Try lifting your own unique song this week. Off -key is not important - God listens to our hearts.

What do you think?