(Audio)
Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?
We too can become set in our ways. Like the Pharisees, we can become convinced there is only one right or God-approved way for things to be. We can find ourselves missing opportunities or even rejecting legitimate goods just because don't come to us in the ways with which we are familiar. We are called to keep our eyes and hearts open to the new ways in which the LORD wants to do good and to save life. We must not let our familiarity and comfort get in the way of the new things the LORD is doing.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert (see Isaiah 43:19).
Why were the Pharisees so invested in the sabbath? In the first place, because it was a command of the LORD they weren't about to abandon it for false or trivial reasons. That makes sense. But what hardened their hearts so much that they couldn't stand to see a man healed?
Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out? (see Luke 14:5).
The Pharisees were more invested in their own sense of being correct than in the will of God. Their identity was constructed on this basis, that of people who were so meticulously obedient. Yet we can use the familiar as a shield in the same way. We can allow our history with the LORD to blind us to our future with him. We too can refuse to be flexible when to do so allows us to prefer ourselves to others and to God. And it is especially tricky because we can convince ourselves that we are doing this for God or for truth. If we do not stay open to the presence of God in the moment we almost certainly will so deceive ourselves occasionally.
David was not limited by his own self-image or by what God had done for him in the past.
You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar,
but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.
David had never done this before. The world, and Saul in particular, didn't think it could be done. But David was able to remain open to what God wanted to do through him, not in calm circumstances, but even in the midst of battle.
All this multitude, too,
shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves.
For the battle is the LORD’s and he shall deliver you into our hands.
Our horizons are too limited. Our battles are stacked against us and our opponents are overwhelming. The whole world whispers together that we cannot succeed. Let us learn from David to let ourselves be used by the LORD even when our enemies seem too great for us. Let us learn from Jesus to be open to his salvation even when the odds against it seem impossible.
Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.
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