Jun 15 – 2 Samuel 23:8-39, 2 Samuel 24:1-25 Acts 9:32-43, Acts 10:1-23 Psalms 74:1-9
2 Sam 23:39
Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.
David had 37 Mighty Men – people who stood by him when he was at his lowest – people who did great exploits for him. Men who are the stuff of legend – Shammah’s great victory was one I heard at many youth conferences and meetings growing up.
These were his SAS – His Mossad… the people who put him on the throne. The people who were with him when he was on the run…
which makes this last name included all the more tragic.
It’s when you read of Uriah the Hittite included in this list you realise exactly what David had done. Bathsheba was not the wife of a random soldier or general in David’s army (which would have made the situation bad enough) but the wife of one of his closest friends and warriors. She was the wife of one of the men who put David in the place he was in.
Which makes his betrayal of him all the more shocking.
David did a terrible thing with Bathsheba. But God, in His great grace and love still forgave. The forgiveness of God for you is great indeed. Don’t ever think you’ve gone so far God cannot forgive you. When you repent and turn to Him, He makes ALL things new.
Acts 10:22-23
And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.”
So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.
What a moment this was in history. Cornelius changed the world, not through anything he did but what God did.
God saved Cornelius. A gentile. A man who was not Jewish.
Even though Jesus spoke of the world, this hadn’t have been considered by the early church, that this Gospel was also for the gentiles. These events would mark a shift in the history of the world and the church, as they realised Jesus came to save everyone!
Because of this realisation – the gospel came to me. What a moment!
