Psalm 51:1-3,6-7,10-12
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.....
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.....
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt — a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Up until now we have been discussing the kind of spiritual darkness that is not of our own choosing – one that we find ourselves in as the result of random fate, such as a serious illness or loss of a loved one, or perhaps as a result of others’ actions, such as a personal betrayal or a corporate decision to ‘downsize’ one out of a much-needed job.
The readings today seem to be aimed at the darkness that is the result of our own mindless or selfish choices. The first reading we heard today was Psalm 51 which is ascribed to King David, written after the prophet Nathan has confronted him with his own deep guilt in taking Bathsheba, when she was another man’s wife and then arranging her husband’s death on the battlefield. When we read this story in detail in 2nd Samuel it appears that it is all about David’s lust and then his need to cover his own rear end from any blame that might attach to him. Poor innocent Uriah is killed and David takes Bathsheba as his wife and at first, everything seems fine – until Nathan calls him on his own self-deception and names him for what he is – and adulterer and a murderer.
David is no longer able to lie to himself or pretend that the truth is anything other than what is really is – and he is, finally, overwhelmed by his guilt. God has blessed him so richly – been so good to him – and now he is forced to see that he deserves none of it – none. He has betrayed God – and all he can do is acknowledge his guilt and plead for a new heart - one that has been cleansed from the ugliness of his sin.
David here has found himself in a darkness of his own construction - he did this all to himself – there is no one else to blame. So he confesses his guilt, begs forgiveness and pleads for another chance – and the God who has met him there in the depths of that darkness forgives him and lifts him to even greater heights than before.
Our second reading was from the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was most likely prophesying in the days leading up to Judah’s fall to Babylon. The prophet reminds the people of Judah that God had saved the people once before when he brought them up out of slavery in Egypt. Even then, though the people had soon failed God and broken their half of the covenant between them, God still raised them up into a prosperous people with lands and power and plenty. Now the people are in the process of failing God yet again by turning toward other gods and forgetting their one-on-one relationship with the God of their history. They have not been true to their promises, and so this present doom is hanging over them. Jeremiah reminds them that when they find themselves cast out in the darkness – a darkness of their own creation – God will still honor God’s part of the bargain and rescue them one more time - just as he had done when they were in enslaved in Egypt.
And this time – so they can never claim to have forgotten or never learned in the first place, God will write the promises on their hearts, so they can never be separated from them. And when the people find themselves captives of the Babylonians, far from power and far from home – deep in the darkness of their own creating – they found God’s word with them with its promise of forgiveness and restoration. And in time, God did lead them home again – out of the darkness and into the new life they found once again in God.
So, yes, both of these reading are about dark times - but more than that, they are both part of an on-going promise of forgiveness and restoration. They are about a promise of rescue and release from torment. They promise us that even before we slide into darkness – self-created or imposed on us from without – God will be with us in the dark and God will restore us to the light.....and, that we will grow and be stronger from the experience.
David’s reign is dated to about 1000 years before Jesus. Jeremiah preached approximately 400 later. But the promise given in each story is the same promise. When we wander astray, when we acknowledge our guilt, when we ask for another chance God is there with us ready to forgive and to restore.
While we may learn new truths about ourselves when lost in the darkness, what we also learn is to live the future without fear, because we have experienced God-with-us and we are changed – forever. This is the promise -- we will never left be left in the darkness alone. Thanks be to God.
The readings today seem to be aimed at the darkness that is the result of our own mindless or selfish choices. The first reading we heard today was Psalm 51 which is ascribed to King David, written after the prophet Nathan has confronted him with his own deep guilt in taking Bathsheba, when she was another man’s wife and then arranging her husband’s death on the battlefield. When we read this story in detail in 2nd Samuel it appears that it is all about David’s lust and then his need to cover his own rear end from any blame that might attach to him. Poor innocent Uriah is killed and David takes Bathsheba as his wife and at first, everything seems fine – until Nathan calls him on his own self-deception and names him for what he is – and adulterer and a murderer.
David is no longer able to lie to himself or pretend that the truth is anything other than what is really is – and he is, finally, overwhelmed by his guilt. God has blessed him so richly – been so good to him – and now he is forced to see that he deserves none of it – none. He has betrayed God – and all he can do is acknowledge his guilt and plead for a new heart - one that has been cleansed from the ugliness of his sin.
David here has found himself in a darkness of his own construction - he did this all to himself – there is no one else to blame. So he confesses his guilt, begs forgiveness and pleads for another chance – and the God who has met him there in the depths of that darkness forgives him and lifts him to even greater heights than before.
Our second reading was from the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was most likely prophesying in the days leading up to Judah’s fall to Babylon. The prophet reminds the people of Judah that God had saved the people once before when he brought them up out of slavery in Egypt. Even then, though the people had soon failed God and broken their half of the covenant between them, God still raised them up into a prosperous people with lands and power and plenty. Now the people are in the process of failing God yet again by turning toward other gods and forgetting their one-on-one relationship with the God of their history. They have not been true to their promises, and so this present doom is hanging over them. Jeremiah reminds them that when they find themselves cast out in the darkness – a darkness of their own creation – God will still honor God’s part of the bargain and rescue them one more time - just as he had done when they were in enslaved in Egypt.
And this time – so they can never claim to have forgotten or never learned in the first place, God will write the promises on their hearts, so they can never be separated from them. And when the people find themselves captives of the Babylonians, far from power and far from home – deep in the darkness of their own creating – they found God’s word with them with its promise of forgiveness and restoration. And in time, God did lead them home again – out of the darkness and into the new life they found once again in God.
So, yes, both of these reading are about dark times - but more than that, they are both part of an on-going promise of forgiveness and restoration. They are about a promise of rescue and release from torment. They promise us that even before we slide into darkness – self-created or imposed on us from without – God will be with us in the dark and God will restore us to the light.....and, that we will grow and be stronger from the experience.
David’s reign is dated to about 1000 years before Jesus. Jeremiah preached approximately 400 later. But the promise given in each story is the same promise. When we wander astray, when we acknowledge our guilt, when we ask for another chance God is there with us ready to forgive and to restore.
While we may learn new truths about ourselves when lost in the darkness, what we also learn is to live the future without fear, because we have experienced God-with-us and we are changed – forever. This is the promise -- we will never left be left in the darkness alone. Thanks be to God.
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