Psalm 88; 2 Samuel 12:1-14; Acts 19:21-41; Mark 9:14-29
Nathan is sent by the Lord to confront him in his sin. David may believe that no one is any the wiser concerning his pre-marital dalliance with Bathsheba and only his loyal servant Joab has a clue to the truth concerning Uriah, but the Lord has seen David’s sin. Nathan presents the situation in the form of a parable and it is a dangerous business that he is on in confronting the king here. David has already proven that he is willing to take innocent life if necessary to conceal his sin and yet Nathan is fearless in exposing the king and rebuking him, he is truly a man of God. To his credit, David owns the truth and knows what the punishment ought to be, death. His sin is forgiven, he receives mercy, but the sin has consequences, there will never be peace in his house or his kingdom and this child, conceived in sin, will die. Sin always has a price, even after we receive forgiveness, it always leaves some kind of mark on our lives.
Why can the disciples not drive out this evil spirit? Perhaps Jesus’ final words here have something to say about the matter, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Have they taken things for granted? It seems that they may have come to believe that there is something special about them and have relied on their own power rather than on the power of God, the source of any power they have. Jesus has just come down from the mount of Transfiguration and a conversation with the Father and is deeply connected with the source of all power and finds his disciples in a controversy. The father of the boy is desperate to see him healed and his encounter with Jesus’ disciples has left him more frustrated than ever so that now he doubts whether their master is able to do anything about the situation. He wants to believe but can’t bring himself to that point, sometimes we have suffered for so long, believing without seeing change, that we need first to have our unbelief healed as he does. His own lack of belief, sin, is exposed and now they can proceed to healing the son.
Can you imagine the insanity of this situation? The mob shouted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for two hours. Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen know that if all they have is the demise of their trade as a weapon they won’t be able to rally many people, so it has to be made a matter of religion to attract supporters to the cause. When we preach the scandal of particularity, that Yahweh is the only true God and that Jesus is His only appointed means of salvation for mankind, we will have opposition and not only flesh and blood opposition but demonic opposition. We must be prepared for what seems like insanity in opposition to our message and we must be prepared by prayer if we are to press on with our mission and if we are to confront that opposition effectively. We can never let down our guard, never be disconnected from the Lord as David allowed himself to become and we must never allow ourselves to believe that we are sufficient to meet the demands of the work as the disciples did here. The power to deal with sin and temptation comes from time spent with the source of our power.
Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.
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