The Sinful and The Saved

My boyfriend and I began on the endeavor of reading the Bible in its entirety in a year on August 1, and we chose a reading plan that spread out the Old and New Testaments, as well as Psalms.  One of the passages for the first day was Matthew 1.

In the past, I have skimmed over the first chapter of Matthew, assuming that there wasn't much wisdom to be gleaned from this particular section, as it is mostly a list of names.  Newly inspired to read every individual word that God has given us in the Bible, I read it word for word this time and discovered something that I had never noticed before.  The second part of verse six reads "David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife," (Matthew 1:6).

The lineage of Jesus not only includes several adulterers, but it makes direct reference to the adultery that had taken place at the beginning of David and Bathsheba's relationship by saying that Bathsheba (the mother of Solomon) "had been Uriah's wife."  David and Bathsheba's sin is described in 2 Solomon, chapter 11, in which David and Bathsheba commit adultery together while her husband is away at war.  When she conceives of a child, David devises a plan to have Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, sleep with her so that nobody will know of their sin.  When Uriah refuses to do so David has him put on the front lines of the war to be killed so that David may marry Bathsheba.

David and Bathsheba experience the grace and forgiveness of God in 2 Solomon 12:24-25 with the birth of their son, Solomon, whom God loved.  The birth of Solomon shows that God's purposes will prevail, even in our sin, and that we are never too far from God to receive His grace.

The inclusion of this relationship in the genealogy of Jesus Christ shows us that God is bigger than anything we can every do wrong.  He is not ashamed of us, He loves us and will use us if we ask Him and are willing, even in our deepest sins.  God does not expect us to be perfect, He is fully aware that we are not capable of living sinless lives, and that does not prevent Him from using us, even in our moments of sin.  David and Bathsheba's originally sinful relation is in the direct line of Jesus Christ, the Savior from sin.

We are sinful and we are saved, and God can use every part of our story for His glory.

God's Glory Revealed

Look outside.

Isn't that incredible?  Isn't God great?  He created all of that.

I have a tendency to let my mood reflect the weather.  When it's bright, sunny, and even the sky is happy, so am I.  But when it's gloomy, misty, and threatening floods all day, my attitude dampens.  Just a few moments ago, I was standing in my dorm room, folding laundry, staring at the gloomy sky outside, but then the skies opened.  God revealed His mighty greatness and roared for the clouds to open in a mighty clap of thunder, and then it was pouring.

This didn't dampen my mood at all, though, in fact, it made me happier.  There's something about the kind of thunder that's almost loud enough to hurt your ears that just shows God's power in a new light.  The rain that follows, the heavy pouring and the subsequent steady drizzle, is no longer depressive, for it is the herald of God's power.

It's the same with every kind of weather, though I don't always recognize other types of weather for what they are.  God commands the skies, and creates the flow of rain, snow, sun, and wind that we ultimately see.  God is revealed in even the smallest things in life.  Where has He revealed Himself to you today?