Nathan the prophet had a rough job to go to the king and
confront him concerning Bathsheba. Nathan
certainly proved the right man for the job didn't he? He didn't pull any punches in either the
parable he told to get the king to see truth nor in his words to the king
concerning the gravity of his offense. David
knew immediately how terrible it was that the rich man in the parable had acted
so wickedly and how it must have felt when Nathan said to him, "You're
that guy." The Lord's response is
essentially, after all I have done for you and was willing to do more you were
tempted by one woman so greatly that you threw away everything? There will be no peace in David's life
henceforth and a neighbor will lie in plain sight with David's wives and
concubines, that "neighbor" will actually be his own son,
Absalom. To David's credit, he
acknowledged his sin and in so doing is given assurance that he has been
forgiven and that the covenant is not nullified. An innocent child, however, will die.
As they return from the mount of Transfiguration they find a
crowd gathered round the disciples and they aren't happy. A man has brought his child who is possessed
by a demon with a spirit that is like epilepsy and the disciples have been
unable to deliver the boy. The father is
utterly distraught over the situation and has lost hope. He says to Jesus, "If you can do
anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus calls forth faith from this poor man who wants also to have his
unbelief healed, he wants to believe again after so many years of frustration
and unanswered prayers. When the demon
leaves, the boy appears for a time to be dead it has so violently tormented
him. Jesus' response to the disciples
when they ask why they couldn't heal is interesting, this kind only comes out
with prayer. Too often we rely on past
experience and charge in without consecrating ourselves and the present
situation in prayer and we fail to have effect.
We can never rest on our laurels, only His and until we situate every
situation within Him we will sometimes find we are unhelpful because He won't
work through us when we forget the power comes always and only from Him.
You have to give Demetrius credit, he knew how to incite a
crowd to achieve his own ends. His business
was suffering because people were coming to believe in Jesus and not buying as
many idols such as he made. There are
only so many people who would rally round the commercial interest he had but if
he made it a religious issue, that the pride of their deity were at stake,
people would get upset and man the barricades.
He was right. The only
proclamation they made was great is Artemis of the Ephesians, religion and
regional pride wrapped up together. Most
of the crowd had no idea why they were there and chanting for hours. The town clerk had enough sense to see
through the nonsense to the truth, that the craftsmen, led by Demetrius, were the
ones who ginned this up and if they had a legal claim to make then they should
press it. Sometimes the best thing to do
is sit back and let it all get sorted out, trusting in the Lord's sovereignty.
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