Saul's murderous intentions regarding David continue to
plague both men. Both his son and
daughter protect David from their father for they know the truth is that David
has done nothing but good for Saul and has not expressed any evil intent, he is
only doing what he has been ordered to do in fighting the enemies of the
nation. What is the evil spirit from the
Lord? Did God send an evil spirit? The Hebraisms in this phrase allow for this
translation but our theological understanding of God's holiness and our own
free will do not. It would be equally
proper to understand the phrase as that God allowed the spirit to come upon
Saul, that He did not protect Saul from himself in some ways. We are not called to be passive with respect
to our sanctification, saying, "the devil made me do it." We are to struggle against temptation by the
power of the Holy Spirit within us. Saul
did not have that spirit but he was, nonetheless responsible for his failure to
master sin.
Forgiveness is the most important thing we can receive from
God. Would you rather that your sins
were forgiven or to have wealth, health, or your best life now? The answer should be simple because
forgiveness of sins means eternal life.
We, however, are materialists, always have been, choosing knowledge over
life. That isn't to say that we should
be know-nothings, or that we can't or shouldn't have anything in this life, but
when we put those things first we lose everything. Who knows what this young man had done that
required forgiveness in order to "unlock" the healing, but we can be
certain that there was something important that this word of grace imparted
that was truly important. We too often
take grace for granted and treat the cross as a "get out of jail
free" card when it is our healing because it gives us life. We, like Saul, rejected the one who was
sinless, our kind put Him on a cross rather than a throne, God put Him on the
throne. Let us live as those who have
been restored to life from death.
Herod is emboldened to act against the new movement and has James
the brother of John killed. When he sees
that he has gained favor with the Jews over this act, he moves against Peter
and has him arrested. The church was
praying mightily for Peter and the Lord saw and heard and acted on his
behalf. Peter is set free by an angel,
they pass by two guards and then the gates of the city are opened to him
miraculously as well. When he arrives at
the home of John Mark's mother, the maid is overjoyed and tells the assembled
prayers that Peter is there although she left him in the street. Even though they are praying, they can't
imagine the reality any more than Peter himself believed it was truly
happening. Do we believe God is able to
do anything miraculously?
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