We tend to put our trust in leaders, sometimes to the point of idolatry. What do we do when leaders fail us? This true story offers guidance and hope.
Once upon a time,
a man
a young man, a small shepherd,
was chosen by God to be king…
a son, a friend, a husband, a father,
persecuted by the then-king, nearly killed more than once,
he knew he was a rescued man, and
he loved God because God first loved him.
His love spilled over in poetry and music —
he even danced shamelessly before the Lord,
much to the chagrin of his wife.
The people loved him, sang his songs, and celebrated his victories,
shouting,
“Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his ten thousands…”
He was almost a hero.
but he wasn’t.
God was the true hero of this story, always is.
The man-king,
perhaps weary of feeling persecuted,
for sure forgetting whose he was,
stopped getting up early to lead his men into battle.
In fact, he took a vacation, a vacation from
serving and celebrating God as his rescuer.
While lounging on his roof,
surveying the kingdom he had begun to think
he had built,
he saw a woman. A bathing woman. Someone else’s wife.
And he forgot everything he thought he knew.
Losing his God-saned mind,
he took the woman
as his own, not remembering
she was
God’s daughter,
another man’s wife.
The other-man’s-wife conceived a child.
The sin-crazed man-king devised a plan.
He summoned the other-man home from battle,
sent him to be with his wife.
But
The other-man refused to take comfort in his wife
while his companions still fought.
So the sin-crazed man-king devised another plan.
One that made perfect sense to a mind that had forgotten
the holy God who rescues
wretched sinners.
He plotted the other-man’s death.
This time, his plan worked,
and
he married the other-man’s-wife.
But God sent
a friend to the man-king.
Not just a friend, a counselor, a prophet, a wise man
who listened to God.
The prophet-friend told
the man-king a simple, sad story
about
a rich man and a poor man.
The rich man, so selfish he would not spare
one of his sheep
to feed a guest,
took the poor man’s beloved
lamb,
killed it,
and served it for dinner.
The man-king was outraged
on behalf of the poor man.
How could a man be so cruel, arrogant,
unfeeling?
His prophet-friend
answered simply,
“You are that man.”
The God-graced words
made a direct hit
on the fallen-man’s heart.
The chosen king, the failed hero,
the man after God’s heart,
crushed under the weight
of sin’s dark reality exposed,
cried out the words
God gave him to say
for all of us,
“I have sinned against the Lord,”
His plea of mercy rose,
to the
holy, just, and compassionate God,
for rescue again.
And the Ever-living, Ever-loving
God
heard
our cry,
sending the One True King,
the Only God-Man-Hero
who died and lived
to save
the man-kings
who could never save
ourselves.
Read this true story of King David in 2 Samuel 11-12:23.
“This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.” 1 Tim. 1:15-16
![How can you bear someone’s burden today?
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
Merciful God,
How exquisitely you have designed your church,
the body of Christ.
You have called us to share our weakness
with you and with one another,
and you tell us that in that weakness
we find our greatest strength
—strength in dependence on Christ,
strength in dependence on one another (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Today, I pray especially for those in our body who are weak—
the bereft grieving the loss of a loved one,
the caregiver serving a loved one through many hard days,
the sick and frail struggling with illness, whether physical or mental….
[Name some weak people you would like to pray for….]
May we truly lift them up, not only in prayer but in service, by bearing their burdens—listening without trying to fix, bringing meals or mowing lawns, forgiving their irritability…
[Name some ways you might bear the burdens of someone who is weak….]
We pray too, that you would empower the weak
with the humility and grace required
to receive the loving care of the body of Christ.
In Jesus’ burden-bearing name. Amen.
Read Galatians 6:1-10.
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