March 18, 2023 - 2 Samuel 12-15

There’s lots to reflect on from these chapters (David's victories, his sin with Bathsheba, Nathan's rebuke, the death of David's son, Solomon's birth, Amnon and Tamar, Absalom's grab for power, etc.). Wow, lots going on here! What’s that old adage about “missing the forest for the trees?” Of course, the trees are important; in fact, the individual trees are necessary. Without those trees there would be no forest. And, of course, without the details of these different stories we would have no grand story or narrative. The individual parts make up the larger whole. You can’t have the one without the other.

So, the value of our adage is what? We need, constantly, to be reminded that, though each individual story has its unique role to play in the larger narrative, and though each individual story presents us with its own unique applications and lessons, there is a larger storyline in play. And what is that? It’s the Davidic dynasty and the descendant of David yet to be born. In a confrontation with the Pharisees, “Jesus asked them a question, saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David’” (Matthew 22:41-42). They got the family tree answer correct but the Pharisees totally missed the significance of their answer. The blind man got it, though, crying out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:39). Let us not be like the Pharisees but like the blind man who saw.

A certain beggar, poor and blind,

A needy creature as we find,

Whose heart was fill’d with woe and grief,

Cried to the Savior for relief.

He cried, O blessed David’s son!

My mournful case to thee is known;

O pity me, grant me my sight!

Restore to me that wanted light.

When once our blindness we do feel,

Our grief no longer can conceal;

Then like the beggar we shall cry

To Jesus, e’er he passes by. –Anonymous (1816)