Today's readings are 2 Samuel 12.1-25 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=2+Sam.+12.1-25 ), 1 Corinthians 12.1-13 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=1+Cor.+12.1-13 ), 2 Samuel 13.1-19.4 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=2+Sam.+13.1-19.4 ), Psalm 60 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Psalm+60 ), and Psalm 3 ( http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Psalm+3 ).
There's a place for everything, and everything is in its place. Isn't that a great feeling? The tools are orderly, the garage floor is swept, the leftovers from the last project are put away where they belong, and you're ready to start on your latest greatest project. Maybe it will be a desk, maybe a bookcase, maybe a car repair. Whatever it is, everything is in order and ready to go. All is well with the world. Then again, maybe you want to take a look in my garage. There are some spilled pet supplies scattered, the gardening tools have fallen off their hooks, the lawn mower is blocked in by a broken chair waiting to be glued together, the toolbox is overflowing with things that don't belong in the toolbox, and for some odd reason there's a bicycle with a garden hose wrapped around it.
Truth be told, my actual garage describes our lives a whole lot better than the ideal garage does. Things are falling off the walls. They are in the wrong place. They are dirty, broken, twisted, and poorly maintained. Probably some termites, venomous snakes, or dangerous chemicals just waiting to make a scene.
That's what we read about today. David's life and kingdom are falling apart. His children are fighting against one another, and they are fighting with treachery and weapons! This is not childhood bickering which, though every bit as sinful tends not to decapitate other people. This is warfare. And it is all tied together with a common theme. Look how people act outside of their God-given capacities. They do not serve God and their neighbors by operating within the vocation the Lord has given them. Rather, they serve themselves and ultimately bring death and destruction.
How like us! We see trouble and run to meet it. We, like the Corinthians we read about in 1 Corinthians 11, do not concern ourselves with loving our neighbor. We love ourselves and through that self love we are our own undoing.
What answers has the Lord given? Self-destructive people don't need a self-help program. They need a savior. Self-destructive people don't need to be told what to do. They will consistently do the opposite. They need a change of heart which results in changed lives. And the Lord has given answers. We see some of them in 1 Corinthians 12, were God works through people in supernatural ways to verbally exhort and encourage his people. He speaks to his people, giving them what they need to hear, even though nobody may be present who would actually know what the people need to hear. Our Lord will take care of even that. Lacking wise exposition of the Word, the Lord will invade through the words of his servants and speak to his people.
And let us remember that when the Lord speaks through his appointed servants - pastors and teachers, evangelists, etc. - he is exercising spiritual gifts also. Our Lord will work in us to put us in the right order. He gives us our right vocations and enables us to serve in his kingdom so as to bring him glory and to love our neighbor. Let us not shun this vocation. Let us strive to be obedient to our Lord. And let us always realize that as we fail we have a savior who does not fail but who exhorts, changes our lives, and forgives us our sin.
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