Thursday Scripture: 2 Samuel 11
Shooting Stars
--------------
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army.
But David remained in Jerusalem.
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.
From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her.
The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
Then David sent messengers to get her.
She came to him, and he slept with her.
---------------
This week the Perseid meteor shower has been on display.
Little bits of stardust burn up in an instant in our thin shield of atmosphere, making a short but brilliant flash of light.
But once in a while, something more substantial happens.
A space rock shoots through the night sky, leaving a shimmering trail of light that hangs inn the night sky.
Sometimes it seems we are like those bits of dust.
Life is brilliant, but short.
A bright streak through this atmosphere, and we are gone.
But there are those whose lives leave a longer trail.
It's been 3,000 years since David walked this earth, but the path he carved--for good and for ill--is still there for us to see.
He told himself the greatest lie we humans have ever concocted.
"I can do whatever I want. No one will ever know."
The man after God's own heart committed terrible sins, and then tried to sweep them under the rug.
The coverup was worse than the sin.
David went from coveting to adultery to false witness to murder, leaving a trail of broken commandments.
I wonder if he would have chosen a different path if he had known his trail would still be visible today?
The Trickster still whispers, "No one will ever know."
And we still buy it.
We still think we can sweep it under the rug.
And the coverup is still worse than the sin.
(Please don't ask me how I know.)
The Bible is brutally honest about the heroes of the faith.
It tells of their brilliance and their darkness.
Their trails still hang in the air to help guide us.
David's story is one of brilliant faith and horrific failure
He is not unique in that.
If we are honest, every one of us faithful sinners has followed that same path.
But God's way is always one of redemption.
That is the path that shines most brightly in the night.
You are more than a bit of stardust hurtling through life in a brief flash of light.
You are a child of God, and the path you choose leaves a trail that lasts far longer than you can imagine.
The good news is that coverups never last, but God's redemption is eternal.
So let your light shine in the darkness.
And let God's brilliant redemption be the trail you leave behind.