When Kings Go Out to Battle...

"In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened..." (2 Samuel 11:1-2a, ESV)

Yesterday was a good day. We worshiped. We gathered with friends for a meal. We rested (I read the Tribune). Julie and the kids bought me a new pair of Toms for Father's Day. We swam. Julie made a great dinner. I read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to Annie. We got the kids to bed. I read Wright's Jesus and the Victory of God before finally turning in. It was a very good day.

I am 38 years old. Fit. In love with my wife (and she loves me). My kids are a delight. The church I serve is healthy and vibrant. We live in a suburb of one of the great cities in the world.

Why am I cautious, even afraid? Perhaps it is because of this story from 2 Samuel. David had everything. Kingship, wealth, an entourage, concubines, children, good looks, musical and athletic prowess, and the favor of God. He had everything. And yet, we find David in the springtime sending others out to the places he used to go. Where kings normally go. David chose the easy way. The safe and comfortable way. What followed, of course, was an illicit affair with (perhaps more likely the rape of) a woman named Bathsheba. A murder followed upon that. And then the usual cover-up, lies, posturing, etc. The bottom fell out. What happened?

I am cautious because I am afraid of sin. I am half the man of David in every respect, and he fell hard. I don't want to fall. On mornings such as this, I am reminded that the Christian life is, at least according to John Calvin, the denial of ourselves (Institutes of the Christian Religioun, III.7). Humility. A genuine acknowledgement of our own frailty and susceptibility to the snares of sin. A genuine need for the mediation of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

So I will continue to push. I will continue to fight. I will not rest. (All of this "I...I...I...", it is Christ in me; praise be to God!)

"Blessed are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers. But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." (Psalm 1, NRSV)