Tag Archives: David

Everybody’s Got A But

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“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…”
(Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV)

I hate to point out the obvious, and I want to avoid any semblance of “potty humor,” but the truth remains:

Everybody’s Got A But.

No, for those of you snickering at your computer, that’s not what I’m talking about.  That’s “but” with one “t” not two.  The “but” to which I refer is the juxtaposition of two opposing and conflicting statements (i.e. “We should see other people, but we can still be friends”) which compose the greater truth (“It’s over”).  

I came upon this revelation as I was studying the lives of the Old Testament Kings.  Consider this with me for a moment.  King David: he is described as having a heart after God’s own heart, but he had Uriah killed to cover his own sin with Bathsheba. Solomon built the temple dedicated to the glory of God, was endowed with great wisdom, wealth, and honor, but he turned his heart from the Lord and clung to his 700 wives and 300 concubines (yikes!). 

After the division of the Kingdom of Israel, we read that some of the kings of Judah were evil kings while others brought reform and sought the Lord.  Yet even those good kings had buts.  Asa (2 Chron 15) renewed the covenant with the Lord, and the Lord gave Judah rest, but the high places were not taken out of Israel.  Jehoshaphat (2 Chron 17-20) was a good king who sought the Lord, but he made alliances with Ahab and Ahaziah (wicked kings from the northern tribes) and the high places were not removed, nor did the people set their hearts upon the God of their fathers.  Joash (2 Chron 23-24) was a king who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord while Jehoiada was priest, but after the priest’s death, Joash abandoned the house of the Lord and had the priest’s son stoned to death.  The stories go on and on.  Everybody’s got a but.

We’ve even got them today.  We put our best foot forward, we have a outward appearance that we work hard to show to the world around us, but we know that we are sinners.  Paul recognizes this in Romans 7, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me… I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out… I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.”  Jesus put it more succinctly, when encouraging faithfulness in his disciples, he called them to pray that we not enter temptation, for “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Everybody’s got a but.

If I may be so bold today and go one step further, let me suggest to you that this is the gospel message, and that we are saved by the “but” of God.  I know that sounds shocking, and I have a hard time writing it, but I mean it with all seriousness.  It is the “but” in our lives that separates us from God.  We are called to righteousness, we were created to live for the glory of God.  But sin keeps us down.  Sin stains us and obscures the reflection of God in our lives, so that what we mirror back to God for the world to see is a cheap and broken imitation of who God really is.  Sin brings captivity of the will, corruption of the heart and mind, and ultimately leads to eternal death.

Paul puts it this way,

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:1-5).

This “but” is the gospel!  This is the juxtaposition of two opposing realities.  We were dead in our sin, but God is merciful and gracious!  We were lost, but we are now saved!

So I say it again, everybody’s got a but.  I’m just thankful that mine’s been covered by the grace of God.

SDG

My heart is not lifted up…

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“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and marvelous for me.”
(Psalm 131:1 ESV)

We don’t know the occasion that prompted the writing of the 131st Psalm, but I think we all have been there before.  Just three verses long, this is one of the most heartfelt, humble, and sincere Psalms in Scripture.  It is one of the Songs of Ascent (Psalm 120 – 134) which were used by faithful worshippers ascending Mt. Zion to worship at the Temple.  Ultimately, it is a song of humble trust in the Lord, but it’s how we get there that’s important.

This week has been a tough week for some.  Some have had injuries.  Some have been sick.  Some have had their marriage fall apart around them.  Some have lost loved ones and friends.  Some have had life-changing, hope-shattering news.  Some have been wrestling with an important decision for weeks and months and are still no closer to a conclusion.  Some are dreading tomorrow and the uncertainty it brings.  Some have been wrestling with sin and disobedience in their own lives they just don’t see how God could continue to use them let alone love them.

That’s when this Psalm speaks to us.  “O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not too high.”  Commentators suggest that this refers to the humble heart that is not lifted up in pride, and that very well may be the case.  But I hear it speaking also to the humble heart that is too overcome with pain to be lifted up.  It’s almost as if David is saying, “God, the joy of my salvation has been so assaulted by the crisis of this situation that it is impossible for me to raise up my eyes to you, to lift my heart in praise.”  Maybe this was part of David’s prayer when his first child with Bathsheba died; perhaps he prayed this when his own sons rebelled against him.  We don’t know the occasion, but we know the feeling.

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:2).

David, here, teaches us that it is important, when our souls are overwhelmed, to quiet ourselves and trust in the Lord.  When we read this verse, it is easy to overlook that word “weaned,” and simply picture a young child being comforted in the arms of his mother.  A beautiful and comforting picture, indeed; but not what the Psalm is saying.  James Boyce writes:

When David says that his soul is “like a weaned child,” he is not saying that he has always been content with God or even merely that he is content with God now.  He is reflecting on the difficult weaning process in which a child is broken of its dependence on its mother’s milk and is taught to take other foods instead.  Weaning is usually accompanied by resistance and struggle on the child’s part, even by hot tears, angry accusing glances, and fierce temper tantrums, and it is difficult for the mother.  But weaning is necessary if the child is to mature.  David is saying that he has come through the weaning process and has learned to trust God to care for him and provide for him, not on David’s terms but on God’s terms.  (Boyce, James.  Psalms: An Expository Commentary (Vol. 3) (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998).  1150.)

“O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore” (Psalm 131:3).

Whatever the crisis that David faced, when he “calmed and quieted his soul,” he could return to hope in the Lord.  Knowing that “God loved him and would care for him even if it was not exactly the way he anticipated or most wanted, he came to love God for God himself” (Boyce).  Rather than loving the gifts that God has given, rather than merely believing in God, David calls us back to loving God himself, believing God – taking Him at His word.

Whatever you may be facing when you read this, if your heart is downcast, calm and quiet your soul, putting your hope in the Lord, for He is faithful and good.  Only God is worthy of your hope and trust.  Only God will never let you down.  He cares for you, and will provide for you, even in ways you cannot possibly hope for or imagine.  As the companion Psalm 130 says in its conclusion,

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.  (Psalm 130:7-8)

SDG