2 Samuel 8:1-16

David served God in many capacities–from simple shepherd boy to heroic ruler. Looking at the various stages of his life, we can see clearly how his godly devotion allowed the Lord to use him mightily.

Shepherd: David was anointed king long before commanding anything other than sheep (1 Sam. 16:1-13). Protecting the sheep was a job he took seriously, even killing a lion and a bear to do so. During those days, he learned to be strong and brave, and to take care of creatures weaker than himself. An early life of obedience to his human father taught him the humility he would later need in order to depend on God.

Psalmist: David’s writings reveal his hunger for God. He is open about issues like fear, depression, defeat, loneliness, and sorrow. By describing valley experiences and communing with the Father in the night watches, David provided us with intimate glimpses of the God he knew so well.

Commander: Starting with David’s encounter with Bathsheba, the king’s life was plagued by heartache, pain, suffering, and conflict. David had sinned greatly, but God forgave him and continued to use him. He ruled Israel for 40 years, and his people called Jerusalem the “City of David.” His restoration teaches us about the consequences of sin and the limitlessness of God’s grace.

King David served God’s purpose when he lived, and continues to do so hundreds of years later–every follower of Christ has been blessed by David’s obedience, service, and literary skill. He is a great example of what God can accomplish through us if we yield our life to Him

Dr. Gabor Maté is a controversial figure in the world of medicine. Maté, a private family practice physician for over twenty years, and the coordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver hospital, now helps addicts as a staff physician at the infamous Portland Hotel. The Hotel is the only supervised, safe injection site in North America for IV drug users. Many of his patients, in addition to being hard-core drug addicts suffer from mental illness and HIV. For their care, nurses supervise their drug use by providing antiseptic, clean needles, water, showers and other basic services. He has written about his experiences working with addicts in his book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts.

On first glance, many might find his work unethical. How could he assist drug users in perpetuating their addictions? In a recent interview, Maté discusses why he provides a safe space for those who are the most hopeless and helpless: “Childhood trauma is the universal template for severe addiction. These drug addicts all began life as abused children. Finally they have a place where they feel accepted and safe for the first time in their lives, so it’s a beginning of the possibility of treatment.”(1)

Maté provides what many consider a more holistic model for treating addicts because he believes their underlying emotional and psychological damage fuel their addictions. Attending to these needs—even in the midst of addiction—provides a crucial key for long-term healing. The Portland Hotel, in Maté’s view, is often the first place for which attending to the emotional and psychological needs occurs for many. “The essential point to grasp,” Maté argues, “is that in neither case are we dealing with conditions that are written in genetic stone. Therefore they are reversible. We have to ask ourselves what conditions we need to provide in order for people to develop…If you’re a gardener and your plant is not developing properly, you ask yourself what condition does that plant require? It’s the same thing with human beings.”(2)

Regardless of how one might view Maté’s unconventional treatment philosophy, his deep concern for the entire emotional landscape of these hard-core addicts should not escape notice. In addressing the deepest emotional wounds of his patients, he is able to recognize their humanity even as most of these addicts seek to destroy themselves. He is able to honor dignity and worth even as these addicts view themselves as worthless. By seeing their addiction as a symptom of a larger emotional neglect, he gets to the heart of what human beings require to thrive: to be recognized, to be known and to be loved as unique human beings.

Maté’s work came to my attention as an unusual coalescence with the Ignatian practice of the conscious examen. In this traditional Christian practice, a person simply reviews the events of the day to see where God was present. But it goes beyond factual recounting to examine feelings and desires that bring both consolation and desolation. The conscious examen invites the individual to look beyond “symptoms” of daily events to see the ways in which God was present in the deepest aspects of one’s life. All that which produces joy or sorrow are fertile places for God’s activity. Ignatius expected that God would be revealed in our consolation and our desolation because he believed that God would speak through our deepest feelings and yearnings.

This gave me great hope as I wrestled with those parts of my story that are filled with desolation. How can it be that plumbing the depths of despair could actually produce consolation? Not the kind of consolation that covers over dark feelings in an attempt to supplant them, but a consolation that emerges as a result of knowing that God can be found in the depths of my own despair? Just as Dr. Maté understands that exploring the deep wounds of emotional and physical abuse hold the key for the treatment of drug addiction, so too the possibility of discovering God in the midst of our complicated humanity.

Scholar Walter Bruggemann says it this way: “[T]he way God’s word impinges upon human history is concrete talk in particular circumstances where the large purposes of God for the human enterprise come down to particulars of hurt and healing, of despair and hope.”(3) In the same way that Dr. Maté believes the emotional and psychological story of his clients holds the key to treating their addictions, so too our deepest longings and desires, our lived experience in this world, no matter how mundane or seemingly trivial, no matter how awful and dark, no matter how joy-filled and hopeful open a door to the presence of God. Nothing is excluded from telling the story of who we are and of how God is at work in the events of our lives.

Oh God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.Oh God, you have searched me and known me….You know it all. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I hide from your presence?

Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.
(1) Terrence McNally, “Why Do People Become Addicts?” Interview with Dr. Gabor Mate, AlterNet, October 19, 2011.
(2) Ibid.
(3) Walter Brueggemann, Texts That Linger, Words That Explode (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2000) 44, emphasis mine.

Morning     “She bound the scarlet line in the window.”     Joshua 2:21

Rahab depended for her preservation upon the promise of the spies, whom she

looked upon as the representatives of the God of Israel. Her faith was simple

and firm, but it was very obedient. To tie the scarlet line in the window was a

very trivial act in itself, but she dared not run the risk of omitting it. Come,

my soul, is there not here a lesson for thee? Hast thou been attentive to all

thy Lord’s will, even though some of his commands should seem non-essential?

Hast thou observed in his own way the two ordinances of believers’ baptism and

the Lord’s Supper? These neglected, argue much unloving disobedience in thy

heart. Be henceforth in all things blameless, even to the tying of a

thread, if that be matter of command.

This act of Rahab sets forth a yet more solemn lesson. Have I implicitly trusted

in the precious blood of Jesus? Have I tied the scarlet cord, as with a Gordian

knot in my window, so that my trust can never be removed? Or can I look out

towards the Dead Sea of my sins, or the Jerusalem of my hopes, without seeing

the blood, and seeing all things in connection with its blessed power? The

passer-by can see a cord of so conspicuous a colour, if it hangs from the

window: it will be well for me if my life makes the efficacy of the atonement

conspicuous to all onlookers. What is there to be ashamed of? Let men or devils

gaze if they will, the blood is my boast and my song. My soul, there is One

who will see that scarlet line, even when from weakness of faith thou canst not

see it thyself; Jehovah, the Avenger, will see it and pass over thee. Jericho’s

walls fell flat: Rahab’s house was on the wall, and yet it stood unmoved; my

nature is built into the wall of humanity, and yet when destruction smites the

race, I shall be secure. My soul, tie the scarlet thread in the window afresh,

and rest in peace.

 

Evening    “And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.”      Genesis 32:12

When Jacob was on the other side of the brook Jabbok, and Esau was coming with

armed men, he earnestly sought God’s protection, and as a master reason he

pleaded, “And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.” Oh, the force of that

plea! He was holding God to his word–“Thou saidst.” The attribute of God’s

faithfulness is a splendid horn of the altar to lay hold upon; but the promise,

which has in it the attribute and something more, is a yet mightier

holdfast–“Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.” And has he said, and shall

he not do it? “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” Shall not he be true?

Shall he not keep his word? Shall not every word that cometh out of his lips

stand   fast and be fulfilled? Solomon, at the opening of the temple, used this same

mighty plea. He pleaded with God to remember the word which he had spoken to his

father David, and to bless that place. When a man gives a promissory note, his

honour is engaged; he signs his hand, and he must discharge it when the due time

comes, or else he loses credit. It shall never be said that God dishonours his

bills. The credit of the Most High never was impeached, and never shall be. He

is punctual to the moment: he never is before his time, but he never is behind

it. Search God’s word through, and compare it with the experience of God’s

people, and you shall find the two tally from the first to the last.

Many a hoary patriarch has said with Joshua, “Not one thing hath failed of all

the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to

pass.” If you have a divine promise, you need not plead it with an “if,” you may

urge it with certainty. The Lord meant to fulfil the promise, or he would not

have given it. God does not give his words merely to quiet us, and to keep us

hopeful for awhile with the intention of putting us off at last; but when he

speaks, it is because he means to do as he has said.

 

We wish to see Jesus.  John 12:21

The constant cry of the world is, “Who will show us any good?” They seek satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and riches. But the quickened sinner knows of only one good. “I wish I knew where I might find Him!” When he is truly awakened to feel his guilt, if you could lay a fortune before him he would say, “Take it away: I want to find Him.”

It is a blessed thing for a man when he has brought his desires into focus, so that they all center in one object. When he has fifty different desires, his heart resembles a stagnant pool spreading out into a marsh, breeding disease; but when all his desires are channeled in one direction, his heart becomes like a river of pure water, running swiftly to fertilize the fields.

Happy is he who has one desire, if that one desire is set on Christ, though it may not yet have been realized. When a soul desires Jesus, it is a sure indication of divine work within. Such a man will never be content with mere externals. He will say, “I want Christ; I must have Him—mere ordinances are of no use to me. I want Himself; do not offer me these; you offer me the empty pitcher, while I am dying of thirst; give me water or I die. Jesus is my soul’s desire. I wish to see Jesus!”

Is this your condition, my reader, at this moment? Have you only one desire, and is that for Christ? Then you are not far from the kingdom of heaven. Have you only one wish in your heart, and is it that you may be washed from all your sins in Jesus’ blood? Can you really say, “I would give all I have to be a Christian. I would give up everything I have and hope for, in order to know that I have an interest in Christ”? Then, despite all your fears, be encouraged—the Lord loves you, and you will come out into daylight soon and rejoice in the liberty with which Christ makes you free.

The family reading plan for April 17, 2012

Ecclesiastes 4 | 1 Timothy 6