David
gives us a little verse at the end of his life. He sounds as if he brags; with
the list of all the things God did through him. This success is not because of
David. He is successful because he follows God. David is a beloved king, not
because he earns it. He is beloved because he seeks to be in right relationship
with God. This is David’s legacy – he is a man after God’s own heart. This
means he has endeared himself to God and that he seeks always to maintain and
enlarge that relationship. The lasting image of David is not in his military or
his leadership skills. It is in his dancing before God. It is in his
songwriting. It is in his faith that grows out of a lifelong relationship with
God.
The
promise that gives David hope is that the kingdom will prosper as long as
future kings also seek this divine, life giving relationship. The warning (and
the sad result) comes about when the leaders sought their own riches and glory
and wisdom. They did not know God the way that David knew God.
This
is difficult for us to imagine in our modern era because we no longer have
leaders with an anointed relationship with God. No president or world ruler is
specifically chosen by God. Heads of state who claim divine inspiration
frighten us. We seek a world where no religion claims authority over all. We
cannot find a leader who lives out such a personal and direct connection with
God – at least one that we can trust.
What
do we make of this for our time? Are these merely quaint memories? Is this a
vestige of some superstitious past? We are reminded only too well of the
failure of our supposedly advanced way of living in this modern age. We speak
of tolerance and we live in isolation. Our religion seems to have nothing to
say to the violent extremists except that we are right and they are wrong. In
our own country, our faith is held in suspicion that we will act in intolerant
ways or we insist that others believe as we do.
Can
we ever find a new David to walk with God and show us the way to live right?
I
believe that Jesus has come for just this reason. He does not try to usurp the
authority around him. He doesn’t even assert his basic human rights, let alone
his right to divine respect. Jesus faces our cruel and fearful world by
submitting to it. He does something we have neither the courage nor the strength
to do. We know he saves us through death and resurrection. He also establishes
his true relationship with us and with the whole world.
We
know that Jesus is the Son of God. We know that God loves us. In our fear and
powerlessness we have become estranged from God. Jesus completes a way that
restores us into life again. We are able to walk with God again in freedom and
in joy. Jesus does not replace our failed and human and sinful leaders with
himself – as a perfect version of what our leaders might be. Jesus takes on an
entirely different role. He gives up rule. He gives up power. He gives up
control. Instead, he invites us into participation. He will accomplish his work
with us.
We
are invited to enter into our royal prerogatives. Jesus makes us children of
God – then we are heirs and heiresses. We are part of the new royal family. We
are welcomed into something quite larger than forgiveness and acceptance. We
are called to live out our faith everywhere we are with everything we do. All
of it carries the possibility of walking with God. All of it carries the
possibility that we might accomplish God’s works to save the world.
We
may be lucky to look back on our lives at the end of our lives and be able to
recite a poem like David. Perhaps we will rejoice at how God guided us and how
God fulfilled promises as we walked in faith and joy. We may also be called to
enter dark and hard places where the light of God is dim and people are afraid.
We may not be able to tell whom we have reached or who has gained courage to
follow where God has led us. Not many of the faithful get to live in palaces on
this side of the resurrection.
That
is not our reward. Our reward is knowing the truth of God’s love. The reward is
living by faith (and we know it is often difficult.) The reward is being a
companion and a friend of God. The reward is walking along the path that leads
to life and rejoicing on the way.
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