God's Presence

Jim:

Each of the readings today has something to say about living in the light of God’s presence.

1 Samuel 20:24-42
David and Jonathan have sworn an oath to each other saying “The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.” (verse 42) God was being called to act as a witness as well as a mediator between David and Jonathan and their respective descendants, guaranteeing the promises that the two men had made to each other. David and Jonathan assume God to be a “third person” in the arrangement, and a very real presence with the power to affect human relationships and to safeguard people.

Acts 13:1-12
I’m not sure how effective a form of evangelism Paul was using when he turned the false prophet blind in verse 11, but it got the point across. In fact, Paul is not the one who causes the blindness. The Lord does so at Paul’s request. Paul acts as though God was a member of the group that had come to Paphos. And in a very real way God was a member of the group, and was present in what Paul was doing.

Mark 2:23-3:6
My favorite verse in this passage is 27, “The sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the sabbath.” God’s will at the time of establishing the sabbath was to provide rest and recuperation for the people. At the time of the industrial revolution Scotland required all public parks and museums to be closed and all public transportation to stop running on Sunday. The problem was that for the vast majority of people, the working poor of the cities for example, there was no other time to enjoy the parks and museums because that was the only day off they were ever likely to have. In that case the sabbath restrictions defeated the original purpose that God had in establishing the day of rest. Perhaps our society has gone too far the other way. Perhaps we pay too little attention to our need for rest and relaxation to the point that we don’t ever slow down. God knows we need to give ourselves a break and in a very gracious way established a law to that effect. But the point was never to punish people or lessen their opportunities.