Bryan Richardson

Stewardship

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 11 (day three)

“Say this to encourage Joab.”

In bravery and artistry and ability to inspire loyalty, David literally ruled. His possession of such characteristics makes his abuse of those qualities that much more depressing. The sense of the scripture is that Uriah the Hittite was a consummate soldier—skilled, courageous, and devoted to his king. David understood Joab’s likely mood of displeasure and disquiet at losing a trooper like Uriah. David’s indiscretion meant taking care of business to cover his tracks, but at the same time, he risked his general’s disgruntlement. Let’s get this straight: David used his unparalleled leadership skills to comfort the commander of the nation’s fighting forces in the wake of a killing David arranged of that commander’s finest soldier in order to conceal his own misdeed. Right. This is what David’s stewardship of his God-given abilities had come to.

Search

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 8 (day three)

“David reigned over all Israel, doing what was just and right for all his people.”

David had many toxic character attributes. Some of them appeared to diminish over time, but others were distressingly present all of his life. And yet, the Bible makes much of David as a “man after God’s own heart.” Does the Bible simply whitewash his destructive and dangerous tendencies? Does it declare that “Kings will be kings?” Not at all. Here’s why the scriptures associate justice and righteousness with David: Every time David got lost, he would eventually ask, in one way or another, “Where might I find God?” There’s a difference between saying, “We need to turn this country back to God,” and “Where is God?” David lived his life by the latter question.

Astonished

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 7 (day three)

“Then King David went in and sat before the Lord.”

Imagine a trusted advisor—one who knows you well, knows the people and financial and social realities surrounding you, and is a highly-sought-after consultant in economic, diplomatic, military, and civil matters. What if this advisor informs you that every indicator in your life and work signals that you’re directing your affairs well—and that if you continue to direct your life and steward your resources in the way you have up to now, there is every reason to believe that for generations to come a peaceful and secure future awaits you, your family, and all those for whom you are responsible? How would you respond? Fear of failure? Fear of catastrophic loss? Fear of your own inadequacies? David responded with wonder at the Lord’s kindness, and wonder led him into confidence.

Surprised

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 6 (day three)

“The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.”

There is compelling scholarship suggesting that Obed-Edom was actually a Philistine—his byname “the Gittite” perhaps deriving from the name of the Philistine town of Gath. What if God is close to and has quite a vibrant life with the people you have concluded don’t know about, think about, or care about God the way you do? The old joke is that Baptists and Church of Christ folks will be surprised to find each other in heaven. If anything, God’s astonishing accessibility to people can, if we will let it, lead us to preach repentance like Jesus did when he proclaimed that the kingdom of God is near.

Here

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 5 (day three)

“And David knew that the Lord had established him as king.”

One can read the Psalms for five minutes and figure out that fear, dread, and terror made frequent appearances in David’s life. In those times, there was more he didn’t know than he did know. That fact can easily upstage everything else. It can be a person’s undoing. It was almost David’s undoing during those difficult seasons. But in the middle of the thickest, most impenetrable times of uncertainty, there was one thing he did know: God had enabled him to exist in that moment—purposefully not randomly, deliberately not capriciously. The breath you draw is evidence that God has not lost track of you. Is that the only thing you know? It is enough.

Realism

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 1; 2:1-7 (day three)

“Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead.”

Say what you want about David, but don’t accuse him of pandering. His son Absalom—that’s another matter. Mister “If-only-I-were-king-you-would-think-everything-is-awesome” never got the opportunity, chiefly because he spent all his time crafting promises for fans instead of devising strategy for kingly stuff like, you know, reigning. David needed a people who would understand the rigors of reality, and he knew it: Summon courage because the devil you don’t know is always harder than the devil you know. For many, that “devil” became an angel of a golden age. Others never would accept the house of Judah. But to supporters and detractors alike, David told the truth about the future. A true leader knows the future’s going to arrive soon enough and prove that leader either right or wrong.

Small

Re:Verse passage – John 21 (day three)

“Come and have breakfast.”

The firstborn over all creation, the image of the invisible God, the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and the End, the crucified and risen Messiah who conquered death and the grave—built a fire and cooked some fish for his hungry friends. This isn’t Undercover Boss, this isn’t the compassionate CEO standing in solidarity with his employees, this isn’t the politician chewing the fat in a small-town diner to wow the folks and rustle up some votes. This is Jesus living with the people he loves. And that’s the point of his salvific work. If sin and death will stop early morning cookouts on the shore—and they will most assuredly stop them—sin and death will stop everything. Life is rich because of these small hours, and the Lord has made sure those hours will never end.

Shift

Re:Verse passage – John 20:1-21 (day three)

“They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.”

Three years ago, these disciples were workaday peasants in an occupied corner of the sprawling Roman Empire—law abiding citizens existing in a politically and spiritually totalitarian state with little-to-no civil rights, trying their best to live at peace with however much of God their religious teachers deemed they were fit to understand. But that was then. Now they were intimately connected to a capital criminal branded an enemy of the state, summarily executed. But it was worse than that. They loved him. This empty tomb meant, apparently, that the state, with the cynical support of religious leaders, was now sealing the disciples’ doom by its power to extinguish all dignity and hope. Suddenly, Jesus, dead no more, shifted their understanding of history with one word: “Mary.”

Body

Re:Verse passage – John 19:1-30 (day three)

“He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

It’s not uncommon for one to encounter reasoning that de-emphasizes the body. This happens in the church as well as in the world, albeit in different ways. The world often declares both that the bodily appetites must be obeyed, and also that the desires must rule the body in any way they see fit, and that such living is without consequence—as if the body has no bearing on the soul. The church often declares that the body is merely temporary because “I’ll fly away”—as if the body were only a stopgap measure. In Jesus Christ, we see these misunderstandings corrected. He bore our sins in his body, and they dis-integrated him; body and spirit were no longer integrated, resulting in death. That death—the cross—rescues your spirit and your body.

Free

Re:Verse passage – John 14: 15-31 (day three)

“He has no hold on me.”

Consider the human being: a brain with enough memory capacity to store the entire Internet; a mind possessing the ability to communicate complex ideas across centuries through literature and the arts; a spirit with the capacity to envision justice; and a means to form alliances with other persons to build cultures that carry out those ideals of justice. Such is a human being at his or her best—and most hypothetical. In the actual world, disease and aging ravage the body. Flawed character clouds noble ideas and artistic expression. Greed corrupts attempts to maintain justice. Lust for power and penchant for war destroy cultures. What would a human being look like if never touched by these sin-infused signatures of spiritual sepsis? That person would look like…Jesus. His is the life we must learn.