The Monday Memo from John Stanko

Memo 1078: Accessible

We have been looking at what it will take for you to thrive on the throne God gives you as we study David's life as king. By way of reminder, your throne is whatever your life purpose leads you to do. As it leads you, you will then lead others because there's no one who can do what you do like you do and it will eventually attract people who recognize your abilities.

That certainly proved true in David's life, for he had many loyal followers who often risked their lives to carry out his orders. However, when David sinned with Bathsheba, God took away his sin but promised that problems would never depart from his family and household. One of David's biggest family problems turned out to be his son, Absalom, who we will look at the next few weeks. Let's start this week.

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE KING

When Absalom took revenge and killed a man who had raped his sister, he had to flee from the kingdom because his father, King David, was furious. Then, even though David longed to see Absalom, he didn't know how to allow him to come back in light of what he had done. Therefore, David's general, Joab, came up with a plan that would give the king a way to receive his son back into the favor of his presence:

Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart longed for Absalom. So Joab sent someone to Tekoa and had a wise woman brought from there. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning. Dress in mourning clothes, and don’t use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has spent many days grieving for the dead.Then go to the king and speak these words to him.” And Joab put the words in her mouth. When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, “Help me, Your Majesty!" (2 Samuel 14:1-4).

We won't take the time to read the entire story, but feel free to do so yourself. What I want to focus on is that the king was accessible to his people. We saw earlier how Nathan the prophet could approach the throne and now we read that this woman could also come before the king, tell him another parable, and get through to the king that he needed to relent and allow Absalom to come home.

It seems remarkable that the king of Israel would set up his day so that his subjects could meet with him face to face. As the woman unfolded her fictitious story and said someone could give her a difficult time if she did what the king was suggesting, David said, "If anyone says anything to you, bring them to me, and they will not bother you again” (2 Samuel 14:10). Not only did the woman have an audience with David, she was instructed to come back if anyone hassled her. What can we learn from this that will help us make the most of our time on our throne?

FAST FORWARD

Like Moses, David was available to his people to give counsel and help settle disputes. His son Solomon was the same as we learn from the famous incident of the two women who came before him, both claiming to be the mother of the same baby. Now let's fast forward to the New Testament, and we will see that these Old Testament prophets and kings were simply pointing ahead to King Jesus, the most accessible of them all.

Jesus lived among the people as one of them, with no clothing or title that set Him apart from the others. When He began His public ministry, He refused to stay in one place, but traveled to many areas to maximize His contact with as many people as possible. Often He had to teach in open fields to accommodate the large crowds who walked for days, sat for days, and then walked home for days just for the chance to hear the gracious words that came from His lips.

His opponents could interrupt His sermons and dispute His claims. Children could approach Him for a hug, and sick people could touch Him and be made well without fear that they were contaminating Him. Famous teachers could come visit him at night, and centurions and Samaritans could talk to Him and not be concerned that they would be sent away or rebuked. Yes, the King of glory was (and still is) accessible to all, and now He expects you and me to be the same. If we want to maximize our time on our own throne, then we must make ourselves available to people to answer their questions, share our gifts, and meet their needs.

Are you accessible? Do you make your wisdom and time available to others? Do you use social media to share your insights and testimonies? Do you look for ways to make it easy for people to "touch" you? Or do you worship at the altar of privacy, shielding yourself from people and their mess?

God put you on the throne of your purpose for the benefit of others and your job is to find ways to connect with as many of those "others" as possible. As you do, you will be following in the footsteps of some great leaders like David and Solomon who were pointing the way to the One who would become the King of Accessibility. Have a blessed week.

Memo 1077: Remarkable Grace

Have you ever wondered about God's grace? Ever done anything that you knew did not deserve God's grace, yet you received it nonetheless? In this week's study, we look at an expression of God's grace that is marvelous, breathtaking and inexplicable, reminding us all that God's ways are not our ways. Let's look at that incident of what can only be labeled as remarkable grace.

LOVED OF THE LORD

In the last study, we saw that the baby from David's illicit affair had died after Nathan confronted David about his sin. The king had fasted and prayed while the baby was struggling to live, only to have the child die. Then we read about the next significant event in David's life that is beyond human comprehension:

Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah (2 Samuel 12:24-25).

After David had an affair with Bathsheba after which she gave birth to his son and after David had her husband positioned on the battlefield where he was certain to die, and after David took his widow as his wife, a baby was conceived and came forth who was named Jedidiah, which when translated means "loved of the Lord."

That alone is almost too much to take in, but then when you realize the baby's other name, the incomprehensible is even more mind blowing. The baby's other name was: Solomon. Yes, the wisest king to ever walk the earth, apart from King Jesus, was conceived after his brother had died as a consequence of his parent's sin. The words of Isaiah the prophet are most certainly true:

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:6-9).

THE GRACE "PROBLEM"

Of course, there's no "problem" with grace. It's as vital to us as the air we breathe, but the challenge is that we can count on it and even depend on it to the extent that we willingly do wrong, knowing that God will cover it by His grace. In the early church, some thought, "Well, if grace comes because of sin, then we should sin as often as possible so there will always be an abundance of grace!" Paul rebuked their wrong thinking, yet repeatedly wrote that they should count on and glorify God for His grace.

The truth is that we can count on God's grace, which should set us free, not to act willfully, but to be ourselves. Think of it: If God were going to "get" you for sin, He has had plenty of opportunities to do so by now. Yet, He has not. Therefore, you can come to God as you are, confessing what you've done, and you can indeed count on His grace. That should set you free!

It should set you free to be yourself, to venture out in faith, making your best faith estimate of what God would expect of you, knowing that His grace goes with you. That grace is able to take your failures, even those you caused by your stubbornness or presumption, and cause them to work together for your good. If God could work out David, Bathsheba, Uriah, and a dead child to produce Solomon, then God can work out your situation for His own purpose through His remarkable grace.

You may have read what I just wrote and question its validity or accuracy, and I wouldn't blame you if you did. When we try to talk about and describe God's grace, we struggle to find the words--or at least I do--words that adequately portray God's thinking and ways where grace is concerned. Let me close by saying that I'm glad God is in charge of dispensing grace, for we would not do a good job for the very reason I just mentioned: We don't understand it. But I do understand enough to know that I wouldn't be writing today if it wasn't for His grace and I don't anticipate that any time soon He is going to shut off His grace channel to my life (or yours) that has flooded and surrounded us with His goodness all the days of our lives. Have a blessed week.

Memo 1076: God Is Watching

Unfortunately, we are not finished looking at the ramifications of the sad story of David and Bathsheba. David had Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba's husband, murdered, he took Bathsheba as his wife, and she gave birth to their son. That means a period of months passed before God sent Nathan the prophet to carefully and skillfully confront David concerning what he had done. It seems that David had wanted to forget and move on like nothing had happened, but God wasn't about to let that happen.

TRUE TO THE LORD

Even though David had done wrong, he still had a vibrant relationship with the Lord! After Nathan confronted David,

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die" (2 Samuel 12:13-14).

While there were consequences for his sin, David acknowledged the Lord and God was still speaking with him. What a remarkable show of fatherly love and discipline on God's part! And then when the baby became ill, we read,

After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them (2 Samuel 12:15-17).

Who did David turn to in his day of trouble, interceding for the child? David turned to his God, and then when the child died, we see,

David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate (2 Samuel 12:19-20).

Throughout this sordid story, God is in the forefront of David's thinking and God didn't seem to mind, for God was the one who had "taken away his [David's] sin."

LESSONS

What can we learn from this incident and the way it unfolded? Here are some quick lessons to consider:

1. God is always watching what you do. Just because He's silent, doesn't mean He approves or endorses.
2. God has "seen" it all. There's no sin you can't bring to Him and ask for forgiveness.
3. God's forgiveness doesn't mean that all the consequences have been abbreviated or eliminated.
4. When you stumble, it's not time to run from God but rather to Him.

I'm sure you see other lessons, but let's close with this reminder from Deuteronomy you would do well to remember whenever you enjoy success from God's hand:

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Deuteronomy 8:10-15).

Have a blessed week!