19 January 2016

Scriptures:

• Psalm 18
• Genesis 18:16-33
• 1 Chronicles 21:1-17
• Luke 11:37-12:12

Observations:

In the psalm, we see David giving praise to God for being his rock and shelter. We see David describing how the Lord goes out to war on his behalf, giving description of his earth-shattering power. David also makes note of why God would act on his behalf - David has sought to remain clean and pure, seeking after God. From God, then, David gains his strength, speaking of how the Lord has equipped him to face his enemies.

In the Genesis passage, I find Abraham's attitude very curious. We see God "debating" within himself over whether to let Abraham know what he was going to do next, to deal with Sodom. After telling Abraham, though, Abraham, knowing the city's reputation, begins to haggle for the city's survival, whittling God down to sparing the city if there are so much as 10 righteous people living there. Yes, we know that Abraham's nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom, but Abraham's humility and self-effacement in haggling with God is interesting. You can see Abraham's gratitude that the Lord would consider his offer. You can also see Abraham's not wanting to presume, recognising his existence in the face of God, but still wanting to press for further clemency on behalf of the city.

In 1 Chronicles, we see the beginnings of kingly pride infecting David, affecting his rule. David called for a census, desiring to know the size of his kingdom. Surprisingly, Joab, his general, who was not particularly known for his godliness, had reservations, pleading David not to tempt God's wrath. David continued and, sure enough, God delivered David a choice of punishments, ultimately delivering a pestilence across the nation, stopping partway through Jerusalem. 70 000 men had died because of David's folly (and that number doesn't include women or children). The Lord stopped the pestilence early because of David's sincere contrition.

In Luke, we first see Jesus dining with some pharisees and teachers of the Law. Not very long after being there, one of the pharisees questions Jesus about a traditional behaviour of cleanliness that Jesus didn't do. Jesus makes a point about this, leveling against the pharisees in general about how they pursue external cleanliness and recognition of man instead of working for the recognition of God, which leads to internal cleanliness. Similarly, at a protestation from a teacher of the Law, Jesus lays at their feet their guilt for the burdensome additional laws which have been made over the last few centuries to keep the everyday Jew from trespassing the ten commandments, but which served more to ensnare and enslave them.

From these statements, Jesus then turns to his followers, who had been gathering and admonishes them to hold on to a few thoughts:

• Do not pursue the influence of the pharisees
• That is, do not seek to emulate them in the hopes of gaining what they purport to possess.
• Do not fear your peers or authorities; instead, fear God.
• Seek first, then the ways in which God says to live, holding to that standard first.
• Do not compromise on your faith in Christ when pressured or questioned by your peers or authorities .

Application:

I think the Luke passage is the linchpin here. Let us start from the three points of Luke - not pursuing the influence and lifestyle of the world, not fearing the world's authorities, but God, and not compromising on our faith in any situation.

From there, we can see David's folly: he pursued the lifestyle and prestige of the world. Let us also see David's salvation: he feared God.

Also, we can see David's psalm. In his solid faith in God, he had no fear of other powers, because he knew what God could and would do.

Lastly, in Genesis, we can see the fruit of a life of growing closer to God, towards the no compromise threshold, in Abraham as he petitioned God on behalf of his nephew.