Gratitude filled Retrospection

A journey that started on 23 Jan. 2018 has now continued for more than a year. Over the past year I had the privilege of sharing with you my reflections as God helped me delve deeper into his word and his world. This journey has been a blessing in many ways, I have seen God bringing forth his unshakeable faithfulness and his unimaginable grace. I have also seen him pointing out the rough edges in my character and the needs of the world around.

I have attempted to write it down as sincerely as I could and share it with you as regularly as possible. I am grateful for the kind words of encouragement, thoughtful insights and reflections from your lives as well. This journey is not yet complete. We still have much more to explore but before we do that, let us trace back our wanderings through the word.

Through the life of kings and their failures

Our journey started abruptly in the middle of 1st Samuel, with King Saul. He started with promise but soon he fell into the deceptive trap of the “World of Me” — where everything revolves around oneself. God became secondary in his life and soon ego and jealousy did the rest. He went on a downward spiral of sin and oblivion.

David followed him but unlike Saul, he seemed to have his heart in the right place. He focused on God and endured great trials, persevered and in God’s time, he became the new King. He put God first but soon his character wavered and his lust got the best of him. Lust led to adultery, treachery and murder. David turned evil but unlike Saul, he submits to God’s correction and emerges a better person.

A pattern to discover

The lives of Saul and David bring out a pattern in the biblical narrative which is true for them as well as the other kings that followed. Interestingly it’s true for all of us as well. First and foremost, it brings out the vulnerability of every person to the deception of this “world of me”. No one is perfect or in other words, no one is good, not even one. It’s true for us as well, irrespective of who we are and what we do, each one of us is capable of evil. In-fact, we are not only capable but also culpable. David seems like a saint when compared to Saul but when compared to the matchless holiness of God, he is a wretched sinner just like Saul.

Secondly it destroys the concept of a “human” Messiah, kings are often looked up to as saviours, the ideal ones, they are even considered gods in some cases. There susceptibility to the prevailing human condition of moral degradation proves once and for all that we cannot save ourselves. Our only hope is in submitting to God and letting him be our King — our Lord.

The pattern continues to grow

As we journey through the successors of David we see this pattern continue and even explode. King after king led Israel down the spiral of sin, they led their nation into violence, deception, division and ultimately exile. Along the way we start to see a contrast, this contrast is not absolute yet we cannot avoid noticing it. The southern kings seems to be marginally better than the northern kings — but why?

This is where we shall diagnose the deceptive “world of me” virus. We see king after king immersed in the world of their own, where they are only concerned about their throne. So much so that they forget the one who put them on the throne! They are greedy for more and thus they compromise with their faith. This contrasts with David and some of the kings of the southern kingdom who depended upon the Lord. Kings like Hezekiah and Josiah, risked their throne to do the right thing i.e. follow God, isn’t this what faith is?

This pattern extends to you and me as well

We may have started well, but so did Saul and Solomon! The one thing that keeps us on track is our personal devotion to the Lord. This is where David stands out despite his failures. Almost every other king gets carried away by their own insecurities and thus they get busy to secure themselves instead of relying on God. We too tend to be like that, we get busy in securing our lives while forgetting the basic foundation of it all — relying on God. Faith!

What are the fears that tend to overpower you? List them down on a piece of paper. Ask yourself, isn’t your God bigger than all of these? If you reflect over each of these fears you will see that God has helped you overcome these fears countless number of times in the past. Take a moment to remember some of these moments. List them down next to your fears. God has been active in each of our lives in powerful ways, trust Him to continue to do that.

When the kings let fear rule over them, they tumbled down the spiral of doom but whenever someone like David, Hezekiah or Josiah relied on God, they prevailed and enjoyed the goodness of God.

Who is this Jesus guy?

We all know Jesus! Do we? We think we know him based on hearsay but have you really investigated into his identity? Some of the things he claims have implications that are too huge to ignore.

He claims that the kingdom of God is coming! He himself is introduced as the eternal King. When we read the ancient texts we find him healing the blind, feeding the hungry and even calming storms. He loves the unloved and befriends the outcasts. It all sounds good but then he also claims to forgive sin! Seriously, he claims that too.

The 10 case-studies in this book help you investigate his teachings, actions and identity. It is a collection of different incidents from his life along with a few investigative questions to help you dig in to the facts. Go on and discover for yourself.

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