Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67
Good Easter Sunday afternoon.
We’re back from our Gospel Sing at Pheasant Pointe. Good time. I have some popcorn to munch on here while I wrap this up and send it off. At random intervals, I toss a few puffs of corn over my shoulder for Bimbo to catch…or eat off the floor if he misses. It’s an absolutely beautiful day…just over 70.
I made mention of skydiving below. After the sing we drove the short distance over to the field of Skydive Oregon, so I could exercise a little controlled envy. But they weren’t operating for some reason. The cause would have to be something other than weather.
It’s kind of late to wish you a blessed Easter. It’s about over with. Be blessed anyway.
Love. Dad/Ray.
I think I’m afflicted with an active imagination. I can’t watch a movie without being there. And even when the movie is over or the TV turned off, my head doesn’t turn off—it’s still going on. High-emotion experiences don’t just end for me with the end of the experience. Following my one-and-only solo skydiving experience, I was still skydiving every night in bed for two weeks. The same thing is true as I read these wild action-packed accounts of Biblical history. I find myself getting into it. Much of it is not very fun. Even today’s reading leaves me emotionally exhausted. This account of so much fighting, treachery, and death is not very inspiring. I’m looking for something to offset the emptiness and meaninglessness that it leaves me with.
I find some inspirational help in the person of David—he was not entirely normal. That fact has role-model value. He was not a typical conformist to social norms around him—which took some observers by surprise. Although he was an incredible warrior, with lots of red blood and hormones (six wives are listed), a basic HEART AFTER GOD was in his mix. And that basic ingredient, I’ve come to believe, caused his basic humanity to be basically acceptable before the LORD.
It is quite clear that living during the period of this reading was very dangerous business. Behavior in your private life was dangerous. Behavior in your public life was dangerous too. And if you had aspirations of advancement and wanted to make points with the king, you would be wise to investigate what made the king tick—what attitudes and behaviors pleased him. Because presuming to know that, and acting on that presumption, could spell the end of your ticker in short order. A young man, presuming to know what would please King David, learned that lesson the hard way. Two more will meet the same fate in chapter 4.
Let’s allow this general idea to again speak to the universal challenge of life. Whether anyone likes it or not, each of us is under close surveillance by the King—the Sovereign of the universe. We too are surrounded with danger—danger with eternal dimensions. We only get one shot at getting the recipe for success basically right. It’s really not all that complicated. For sure, it is extremely foolish to trust popular thought and presumption. A wise subject will want to investigate what makes this King tick—what attitudes and behaviors please Him—and do everything possible to comply. A wise subject will “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). But seeking is only one side of the equation. Somewhere in that priority pursuit, the Spirit of God intervenes to assist—to make possible what is humanly impossible.