May 17, 2023
Daniel Wallace is a professor of English at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC. His larger-than-life brother-in-law (William) died in 2001 and left behind 22 journals that detailed his private world. Daniel knew that these journals were never meant to be seen by anyone other than the author, but given the fact that William seemed to be one thing, but was apparently another, spurred Daniel to attempt to unwrap the mystery of William. The insight gained was hard to read. William knew that his life was a lie. From an early age he gave himself to a character that he really wasn’t. As time went on, he could no longer maintain the increasing tension between the plastic William that everyone knew and the private William who really was. Six years before he ended his life, William wrote, “I MUST NOT LET THEM SEE WHO I REALLY AM.” This is the only time in 22 journals that William wrote a sentence using all capitals.
This Sunday, we begin the descent of David’s reign. For months we have watched this boy-become-man-become-king, fell giants, forgive enemies, defeat armies, conquer nations, and build a kingdom. He is a hometown hero of legendary status. If we were reading this account for the first time, we are not ready for what is coming. But, most of us know what is coming, and yet it doesn’t make it easier to read, much less understand. We thought we knew David. We thought that he was the guy who did the right thing, even under pressure and even when he was the only one. Now this. What are we supposed to think? Is the David we thought we knew a fraud and this is the real David? Or was this one-off? But if so, this was a really big one-off!
The answer is hard to hear. David is both. He is a tremendous leader and a deeply broken sinner. His leadership is capable of moving a nation and his sin is capable of destroying about everything that he built. But there is more that we need to hear and this is the hardest part to face. David is you. David is me. By God’s grace we are capable of enduring so much sorrow and scaling imposing mountains and left to ourselves, we will fall into really dark holes that feel as if they have no bottom. Scaling the mountains can blind us to the dark holes that await our wayward steps. Descending into the darkness has its own set of lies that tries to tell us that there is no forgiveness and no way out.
We miss the point of these accounts if our take-aways are: Be like David, or don’t be like David. If David fell so deep, what hope is there for us? David was a savior who couldn’t save himself. Once again, we get close to those with so much promise only to be disappointed. But that is the point. There is no earthly leader who is worthy of our complete trust. There is no earthly leader who is capable of carrying the weight of the crown without dropping it. We need a Savior who doesn’t need to save himself, but who chose not to, that we might be saved. We need a Savior who knows of us what others don’t know and in fact knows of us, what we don’t even know and who loves us anyway and will never stop. We have such a One.
David’s Son rules and reigns forever. The Bible is the personal journal of Jesus that gives us the insight we need to understand the mystery of his life. It is all there for us to see. I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, THOUGH HE DIE, YET SHALL HE LIVE.” (John 11.25) A few weeks later he rose again from the dead.
I do not want to preach 2 Samuel 11, but in the end, it will point us to Christ, therefore, we dare not miss it. Christ is worth seeing and savoring. Facing the hard truths about our own hearts makes his beauty and salvation even more glorious.
Grace and peace,
Bob
Sunday’s text: 2 Samuel 11.1-5
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