those lists of names in the Bible can be really boring to read. it's easy to skip over them altogether... or at least to skim them. every once in awhile, i'll have the patience to read through them name by name... which kind of transports me back in time to see these men who were among the "lucky few" to make it into the Bible.
but today, there was a surprise waiting for me. you know "the thirty"? well, if not... there was this group of around thirty men... (there were actually 37, the OT tells us today) who were the King's special group... kind of the Navy Seals or the Green Berets of their time. they were bad mama jamas. there are stories in 2 Samuel about their exploits... like when David asks for a drink of water from a well behind enemy lines... and a few of the thirty go and get him some water from that well.
well... i was reading this list of men's names... and the last name on the list was Uriah the Hittite! you might remember poor Uriah... he was Bathsheba's husband. he was a loyal soldier for King David... and David had him killed so he could steal his wife. not cool. but it's worse than i thought... because Uriah wasn't just some random soldier. he was one of the few... the proud... the thirty!
David really messed up when he stole Bathsheba and killed her husband. yet, the Bible calls him "a man after God's own heart". how can this be? well... David knew how to repent. that's the thing that makes him stand out against so many others in the OT... and the NT as well. David messed up... more than once! even in today's readings... he takes a census (which makes God mad for some reason... probably something to do with trusting in numbers rather than trusting in God) and then he repents.
would that we would follow his example. we all mess up. we all sin, and do stupid things that estrange us from God. but God never grows tired of forgiving us... as long as we keep coming back, time and again, and saying "I'm sorry, God. I blew it again. Please forgive me."
God.... well, You know.
1 comment:
Yes the names seem not .to matter to us today....yet think about having your name on Gods list.....Christ made it possible for all of us Jews or Gentiles to make the list. Believe in Christ, repent of our sins, and we become part of the list!!!!!!!!
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