Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Loved by the Lord


Years ago there was a commercial on TV about a President of a company who had called in his sales department to tell them he wasn’t satisfied with the way the company was doing their business, and things were going to change.  The company had forgotten the importance of face-to-face interaction,  and were dependent on letters, phone calls, and faxes to create new and maintain former clients.  Things needed to change and he passed out airline tickets to different cities (it was a commercial for an airline), and everybody was returning to personal interaction.  At the the end of the commercial the President had a ticket for himself to use, and someone asks him where is he going.  The President replied, “to see an old friend.”
Our scripture for this week is the conclusion of a familiar story in the Old Testament, David’s night of interrupted sleep with Bathsheba which included lust, adultery, deceit, murder, a cover-up, and long term family turmoil.  This is a type of story CNN, Fox News, or tabloid papers fight to report first and embellish, not something we like to read in the Bible.  However, many of us know this story and I encourage you to re-read 11 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.  Maybe our “symptoms” of sin are different than David’s, but regardless of what our sin is, we have learned through this sermon series even when our sin is “bad to the bone,”  forgiveness is the heart of the matter of the Gospel.     
Some other familiar passages you may want to read before Sunday are Psalm 51, Romans 3:9-31, II Corinthians 5:16-21, and I John 1:5-10.   The following questions may help us as we prepare for receiving God’s Word.
  1. Is there anything that stirs your imagination in the parable Nathan told David when he confronted David with his sin?
  2. How seriously did God look at David’s sin, and was there any judgment or punishment handed out when Nathan declared to David, “The Lord has taken away your sin.”
  3. At the end of II Samuel 12 the servants were afraid to tell David his son had died, and obviously they didn’t understand the change in David’s behavior after hearing of his son’s death.  What do you think are some of the reasons for their fear and confusion?
  4. When we read Psalm 51 today, is there any conviction, comfort, or promises which stir you to come before the Lord?
  5. Is there anything unusual you don’t see in Psalm 51?