Saturday 16 July 2016

Psalm: Psalm 119:49-64 
 

Background

Today's passage makes for sad and difficult reading. The childborn to Bathsheba becomes ill and then dies. A major problem for uslies in the statement that "the Lord struck the child…", suggestingthat God inflicts punishment on children for the sins of theirparents. When we seek to read the Hebrew Scriptures through theeyes of Christ we know that this is not how God deals with us.

At the same time the passage serves to illustrate again that ourhuman tendency to stray from God's ways has inevitable consequencewhich doesn't confine itself to a single generation or time.

David, who at the beginning of this whole affair had been actinglike an all powerful monarch, is now totally humiliated. In aculture where dignity mattered above all else he is in sackcloth,refusing to eat and lying on the ground. His attendants clearlyfeared for his sanity if not his own life.

When the child finally dies David once again surprises thosearound him. Rather than enter the normal period of mourning he nownot only washes, dresses and eats, but also goes to worship. Hisworship is the acknowledgement that God is indeed the King and thatany royal power that he might hold is subject to God's sovereignty.His arrogance in forgetting that had led to grievous trouble formany.

To Ponder

• Can you think of instances where the sins of one generationhave had consequences for succeeding generations? Are there sinfulattitudes of which we in our generation need to repent of? What arethey? And how might we demonstrate that repentance?

• How should we respond where we find in Scripture actions orattitudes ascribed to God which seem to run counter to therevelation of God in Jesus Christ?