Chip Shots

As we slog our way through Israel's inevitable demise in 2 Kings, we can't help but be a bit discouraged. The kingdom divided in two, most all of the kings did not follow God, and the people of Israel fell into idolatry. These are not pleasant stories to read. But there are a few bright spots. For example, consider the plight of four lucky lepers in 2 Kings 7. Israel is under siege by the Arameans, leading to a terrible famine in the city. Prices are high and people are starving. Things are so bad that some have even resorted to cannibalism (2 Kings 6:26ff).  Four lepers commiserated outside the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other. “We might as well try our luck with the Aramean army. They may feed us, or they may kill us, but what have we got to lose? If we stay here, we'll surely die.”  They snuck into the Aramean camp that evening. To their utter amazement, it was empty! God caused the soldiers to believe they were under attack by t...

Elijah had had enough. He was ready to quit. After all, what more could he do? The nation was going down the tubes, and no one, not even God, seemed to care.  Exhausted, Elijah sat in the shade of a broom tree. It was merely a shrub, sometimes large enough to provide a bit of shade, but a pathetic place to find rest.  But rest was what he needed, and the broom tree would have to do. He’d been running away from wicked Queen Jezebel all day long. It was a desert a lot like ours. He was hot. He was tired. He was hungry. Out of gas, out of ideas, and out of sorts. “I have had enough,” he said, and he went to sleep in what little shade he could find. Ever felt like Elijah?  You have, you do, or you will. Sometimes, we’ve just had enough.  We thought the plan was good, but nothing turned out right. We thought we’d have a reasonable conversation, but all we did was fight. We thought we’d turned a corner, but there was just another red light. “I have had enough,” we say, and...

In a shocking series of events, King David, the one called "a man after God's own heart," was guilty of adultery and murder.  David had an affair with the wife of one of his best friends. When she became pregnant, he covered it up by having his friend killed on the battlefield. (You can read about it in 2 Samuel 11.) It is a sad and sordid story. His failure reminds us that even the best of us is capable of the worst of us. Every human being carries in himself or herself the highest aspirations and the lowest degradations possible. This truth is at the core of the biblical story: Humanity is beautiful; humanity is broken; humanity needs rescue.  There is only one Hero in the Bible. His name is Jesus, God-in-the-Flesh, the true Son of David. Troubling though it is, David's affair is a poignant reminder that God’s grace is generously given to all of us. Not a one of us is so low as to be beyond it, and none of us is so high as to be above it.  David’s failure reminds us...

  Mephibosheth thought he was a dead man. But instead of a sentence of death, he received a new lease on life.  He was the grandson of King Saul, who, along with his father Jonathan, had died in battle fifteen years earlier. At the time, Mephibosheth was only five years old. Hearing the news, his nurse hurriedly gathered him up in order to flee to a safe place. After all, everyone knew what would happen next: the new king would kill all of Saul’s family in order to solidify his leadership. Unfortunately, in her rush to save the child, she was careless. She dropped him, and Mephibosheth was maimed for life (2 Samuel 4). Now he was not merely a refugee; he was a cripple. When we meet him a few chapters later, he is hiding in the land of Lo-debar, which means, fittingly, “a desolate place.” He is Saul’s only living relative, an orphan condemned to living a broken life in a barren place. That’s were we find him in 2 Samuel 9. David is well-established as the king of Israel. The wa...