2 Samuel

Somewhere in the middle of 2 Samuel I found myself, well, in the middle of Utah. We were in the middle of our drive out to Colorado and since I was in the middle of trying to corral the kids and drive the car, I found myself falling behind in the reading. As I type this, I'm needing to read 24 pages (double the usual 12) to catch up. I'd read right now, but I'm in the middle of the Brazil match and the US Open final round. Are you sensing a theme here?!?

Let me be honest. Yeah, not a fan of 2 Samuel. Here are some impressions:

1. David ain't all that. I don't know if this is your experience, but I grew up in church sort of idolizing David. I mean, we always knew the Bathsheba story and it served as a warning, but for the most part, David is held up as the ideal. Certainly compared to Saul and especially given the rogue's gallery of fair to poor kings that come later. After all, David is the "man after God's own heart." That may be true, but I left 2 Samuel unimpressed by David. I was seriously underwhelmed. He lies, he presides over a majorly dysfunctional family, for me the Absalom story is the story of David giving in to fear, and then there is that whole incident with Bathsheba. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised; it's been the case thusfar that each Old Testament hero has had their flaws. It's just that David is held up as such the paradigm!

2. The Lord has a high bar for His presence. Wow, the Uzzah story from chapter 6 is a crazy tale. It feels so harsh to me, but it seems the Lord is wanting to be super clear that His presence is to be taken seriously. I'm not always sure today that we have a clear understanding of the importance of reverence when it comes to God; Uzzah's story drives that point home.

3. Next time someone disses me, I'm going 2 Samuel 10:4 on them! You've been warned Jim Ha...

4. My only question about 2 Samuel 18:8 is whether or not Treebeard was present...

5. My theme verse for the summer: 2 Samuel 18:23a.

6. In 2 Samuel, having luxurious hair is a mixed thing. On one hand, you have this. On the other, there's this.

7. Thank the Lord for 14:14! Of the thousands of verses in the book of 2 Samuel, for me 14:14 was the high point. It made reading the rest palatable. I'm going to end this post with this beautiful gem about the Lord. Thank God He is this way!

"But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him."