From a Distance
One Year Bible (May 29)
2 Samuel 14:1-15:22
From a Distance
There is a song by this title that is sung by Bette Midler that I have always loved. It has kind of a haunting, melancholy feel to it that leaves me with a longing for more.
“From a distance, You look like my friend Even though we are at war. From a distance, I just cannot comprehend What all this fighting’s for…”
Can you feel the melancholy distance between David and God as you are reading these passages?
I sure can, but then I have always been an empath, even when I would prefer not to be at times.
It is heavy and thick and just hangs in the air like Bette Midler’s song.
The David who so easily said, “God, what should I do?” “Where should I go?” “What’s for dinner?” is now sullenly silent. He went to the Tabernacle to pray, but he doesn’t seem to be carrying on a conversation with his God or his children.
First, Nathan the prophet is instructed to bring him a “parable of a story” so that he can get his own sin.
Now, Joab sees how much the king is longing to see his son, Absolam. So, he sends a woman to tell him “another little parable”. In other words, the story is about him. He just doesn’t know it yet. See what I mean about there being a distance?
David is the one who is disconnected…
She tells him a story that matches his relationship with his sons, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent. (I mean guilty!)
David says, “Leave it to me. Go home and I’ll see to it that no one touches him”.
Counselors are good at getting other people’s stories, just not their own at times.
She then “flips the story” right on his kingly head.
“Why don’t you do as much for the people of God as you have promised to do for me! You have convicted yourself in making this decision because you have refused to bring home your own banished son.” (2 Samuel 14: 13)
Here’s the dramatic closing. It is a word picture and a powerful one at that…
“All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.” (2 Samuel 14:14)
What a powerful message for David and for us today.
Life is short!
Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground.
That water can not be gathered up again.
God does NOT sweep life away.
God devises ways to bring us back to HIM.
Remember that haunting distance between David and God that I was referring to a bit ago?
Who moved?
Isaiah 59:2 tells us, “Your sins have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
Just as sin separates us from one another, it also separates us from God. David’s sin has affected all of his relationships.
Yet, God through his infinite wisdom and grace has created a plan for man to be restored in relationship with Him. That plan cost Him His Son, Jesus Christ.
He will come out of the line of David.
Out of sin will come rescue through a Savior.
Out of brokenness and bitterness will come the greatest blessing ever known to mankind.
The Messiah will change EVERYTHING.
Remember the powerful words of the parable that was sent to David, “But God does not just sweep life away; instead he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him”. (2 Samuel 14:14)
“From a distance, We are instruments. Marching in a common band. Playing songs of hope. Playing songs of peace. They are the songs of every man. God is watching us. God is watching us. God is watching us. From a distance.” (From a Distance, by Bette Midler)
David was an instrument of God, and we are also.
However, this song forgot the last and most important verse… There is no longer a distance between God and man, and He is not “watching us from a distance”.
Out of the line of Jessie, and the City of David, HE CAME NEAR Through Jesus…The Hope of Every Man!
