Lent serves many purposes from helping us deal with our besetting sins to encouraging us to be stronger in the faith. It is a time to look forward to Easter and to the moment when we greet the risen Lord. It is also a time we can use to re-visit past issues and crises to make sure that we have moved on with our lives. This became evident to me a couple of weeks ago whilst reflecting upon the Old Testament readings chosen in the lectionary for Fridays. These readings did more than just tell the story of the Israelites as a preparation for the coming of the Messiah. They introduced critical themes in our relationship with God. Briefly I will mention two of them.

The first comes from 1 Samuel. The author relates how the Israelites petitioned the priest and prophet Samuel for a king. Hitherto they had been governed by judges who settled disputes and offered guidance to the people in the ways of the Lord. Along with the prophets and priests the judges served well for many years. The people were not satisfied with God’s provision however and demanded a king to rule over them and to fight their battles for them. This may seem like a sensible political expediency as other nations had kings and it seemed to them to be an advantage. For Israel though this was a mark of disloyalty because God was their king and in reality they needed no other. Samuel warns them, but they will not listen and God is rejected.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. (1 Samuel 8: 4-7)

Are there times when we are disloyal to God? Are there times when we fail to put our trust in him and instead place our reliance upon human agency? This could be through our political thinking or simply in our day to day decision making. The question for reflection during Lent is, ‘does God rule every part of our lives, in every situation, every day of the week?’ If not, there is still time to do something about it.

The second narrative comes in 2 Samuel chapter 11. The author relates how King David’s human desires lead him to commit mortal sin. He takes a liking to Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite and seduces her. When he finds out that she is expecting his child he tries various ruses to give the impression that the father is actually Uriah. When they fail he arranges for Uriah to be killed. It is one of the more shocking stories in the bible.

When the wife of Uri′ah heard that Uri′ah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. (2 Samuel 11: 26-27)

Are there times when we fail to take responsibility for our actions and try to cover up the bad things that we have done? Do we ever think that God does not know or that we can fool him also? Might we also presume on his mercy knowing that he is a God who forgives? If the latter, we just heap one sin on top of another. God knew what David had done and he knows about us as well. Following the death of Uriah God sent Nathan the prophet to challenge the King. It is a brilliant and memorable work as Nathan traps David in his own deceit, finishing with the declaration, ‘You are the man’.

Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? (2 Samuel 12: 9)

David stands accused here, but should we be joining him? Lent gives us time to consider where we stand, to repent and turn to the Lord. If there are historic issues to re-examine then we should re-visit them in a spirit of humility and under the guidance of the Spirit repent and turn back to the Lord.

Image by Josh Applegate on Unsplash