Forgiven

2 Samuel 12 v 13-25

The king had a big problem of his own making.

Lust, deception, lies, manipulation, murder…one thing after another.

But God saw everything

And so, he sent a messenger to confront him with the truth

(And the truth will never yield to falsehood, no matter how sophisticated the cover – up).

David knew he was in a corner, and being a man after God’s own heart, he owned up.

Honesty.

“I have sinned against the Lord”

God said (through the messenger) “I have taken away your sin”

David hoped that the illegitimate child would live, but it was not to be.

So, David got up and worshipped God

Then he took the woman to be his own wife, and slept with her.

The very woman he slept with before.

Astounding.

But David knew the heart of God, and knew that when God said “You are forgiven”, that was it.

Forgiven, from the most awful deeds.

And now, he knew how to live forgiven.

It was over.

Intimacy restored – a testimony to the outrageous grace of God.

Measuring

( Zechariah 2 )

There is a line in a song by Paul Simon, which is strangely prophetic….

“These are the days of miracle and wonder, this is the long distance call…”

He may have been talking about the technological revolution back when he was writing the Graceland album

But here on Earth, right now, as you read this, there are revolutions much more profound.

Revolutions of miracle, and wonder.

Expressions of God’s great heart and sovereign power.

And whenever we encounter anything out – of – the – ordinary, we can react in several ways, two of which are:

We either allow ourselves to be taken up with the wonder of it and just allow God to move

or

We want to box it in, measure it, do a subconscious risk assessment, and then decide if it gets our vote.

And, maybe, that was what the angel was sent to sort out.

Because the message in this second of Zechariah’s visions was clear:

Here is a city, with walls of fire, filled with a weight of glory and an immeasurable population

And standing by was a man, ready to do an assessment, using a tape measure.

Somewhere in your house you’ve probably got one.

It’s probably retractable, and cost £9.99 from Homebase.

To measure a city of fire?

It is, of course, absurd.

But, then it has always been absurd to try and put the Captain of Heaven’s Armies in a box.

Making it

(1 Tim 6)

As with many things in the Kingdom of God, the truth is not superficial.

Or how we think it looks like.

But our hearts are the soil in which the truth seeks to be implanted.

Timothy clearly had a job to do, and this included trying to dispel false and corrupt teaching that led to an unhealthy appetite.

For money.

It seemed that there was a formula that went something like this: godliness + money  = gain.

So, there was godliness mixed up with money, with one leveraging the other.

A potent mix

The antidote was another formula : godliness + contentment = great gain.

The apostle modelled this ” I have learned, in all things, to be content”

And so he passed it on to Timothy.

The problem with the first formula is that it can never be satisfied. Which leads to a question.

Can we ever be content with what we have?

“Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (vs 10)

So, eagerness for money, and hunger for God make for difficult company

And the fruit of it sounds painful

Our lives will be impacted by that which our hearts go after, for good or ill.

A friend of mine once said that whether you have a million in the bank or nothing should make no difference..

And I have a feeling

That she was right.

Talking

(Proverbs 22 v11, Colossians 4 v 6,  Matt 12 v 33 – 37)

We do it all the time, because vows of silence are rare. And if we aren’t doing the talking

Somebody else is.

God says that it is a reflection of us – our inside man.

An expression of our hearts – for good or evil.

Evil?

Seems a little harsh, unless we understand that God is perfectly good.

And we are constantly in need of his grace

All of us.

To cleanse those parts of our hearts that we don’t ever talk about

So that the activity of that minor part of us – which Paul calls a “rudder” and needs taming

Will produce words that come from a well that knows his grace

We should not be those who speak without thinking

Without considering our words

Because the wise one – the one who has opened their heart to be filled with grace

Will love purity

And will have the king as their friend

And who would not want that?

Breakfast

(John 21 v 12)

So many experiences that they had been through together.

And even after undeniable proofs of his resurrection, there was still a residue of the old ways being safer, less risky…

And Peter said it:  “I am going fishing”.

Had Peter forgotten that day when he was called away from the nets ?

But he went back to what he knew best, because maybe it was all too much….

Perhaps he couldn’t face the Lord – maybe his denial was still fresh in his mind.

But then came the question from the unrecognised man on the beach:

“Have you caught anything?”

“No” – despite the skill and effort and familiarity – “nothing…”

But Jesus knew what would get their attention, what would cause them to re focus…

A net full of fish

And Peter was the first out of the boat, running back to Jesus

Whatever was going through his mind, whatever caused him to want to revert to his previous life, he could still be “captured” by his Lord.

And so he was

Captured again

And there was no condemnation

No “I told you so”

Just an invitation to eat together, just like it used to be,

And to allow himself to be fully restored.

And for us, the issue is not whether we become distracted or even go “backwards” – this will always be a risk

But when Jesus calls, will we hear Him?

And respond…

And allow ourselves to be captured again?

Blind But Not Really

Mark 10 v 46, Isaiah 55 v 6

There was something wrong with his eyes, but clearly his heart was functioning perfectly.

Bartimaeus caught Jesus on his way out, and there was every chance that he was going to miss…no doubt he had heard many stories..

Jesus was leaving town

Bartimaeus couldn’t see anything but he perceived everything

This is my chance, my opportunity, because he heard that Jesus was passing by.

The Man, who if you could capture his attention, would do something for you

In his great mercy.

Bartimaeus was determined not to be robbed, and the urgency in his heart grew strong

Then everything went quiet as Jesus stopped

Just for him.

Then Jesus called him and, ignoring the obvious, asked him what he wanted. Then Jesus healed him.

The blind man perceived what we often do not, that there are times when Jesus passes your way, something special and personal can happen.

But, caught up in the multitude, we think we already have Jesus

Seeing, we are often blind to our need of the intimate company of our dearest friend.

Unlike Bartimaeus

We are sometimes not desperate enough

When we are, and cry out, Jesus will stop

Just for you, and just for me.

But be prepared to tell him what you want.

What we long for

1 Cor 2 v 11,Proverbs 19 v 22, Isaiah 54 v 10

The Apostle writes that no one knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man.
Which is an interesting comment, when we compare it to the statements that we make.
How sometimes we think we “really know our own mind”.
Really?
The psalmist was so unconvinced that he was qualified for an exercise in self assessment, that he asked God to search him.

It sometimes takes the Maker to say what is really going on in the depths of the created ones . Because no one really knows us like God does.

The son of the psalmist said it for us all “What a man desires is unfailing love”
So that’s it.
The unrelenting patterns of my life – driving me , even leading me, keeping me “busy”….and of themselves, not always guaranteed to satisfy this deep longing…..

Because, all the time, what the creator said I really needed was love that would never fail me.
And God, through the prophet, says that even if the mountains were shaken and the hills removed, yet “my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed”

Because he has compassion on you.
Unfailing love.
It is what we really desire , and now we know the source.