If you caught my last post, then you know that I’ve got a lot going on in my head and heart that I’m itching to share. I’ve just had an apostrophe – lightning has just struck my brain… (To quote the 1991 movie, Hook). The lightning strikes have been happening almost every day for the past several months. That’s what happens when you start seeking God – His kingdom becomes real.
As I was preparing this post, I kept feeling a tug to take a look at David, but I’ve had the woman who had been forgiven much (Luke 7:36-50) on my heart. Then I realized that the pull towards both was probably God trying to show me something. Perhaps the lightning strikes are taking a toll. I hope that you’ll take a minute to read Luke 7:36-50, as it’s a longer passage and will eat up my word count.
King David is often referred to as a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). I never understood that while I was growing up in the church. All I knew was that David did some pretty questionable and downright sinful things! While being lazy and not going to war as he should have, he took another man’s wife, got her pregnant, and then had her husband killed (II Samuel 11)! That’s pretty darn wicked! For a long time, I wasn’t feeling very good about what I thought it meant to be a man after God’s own heart.
While I grew up in the church and I believed that God loved me, I had no real concept of what being saved by grace through faith meant (Ephesians 2:8). I memorized scriptures telling me that God loved me and gave His Son for me (John 3:16), but I also heard and read about branches getting chopped off and thrown into the fire, being lukewarm and getting spit out, and that judgment is heaped on me if I take communion without confessing all my sins. This is not being saved by grace through faith. This is death.
As I read about the woman in Luke 7 – the woman who has no name but is merely referred to as an immoral woman in the city – and praying that God would show me what He wanted me to see and share, I couldn’t help seeing that she had a pretty deep revelation of God’s heart for her. She had nothing to offer Jesus – guys, she had a reputation as an immoral woman in the city, everyone knew her as that. There were no good works or good fruit (let the branch burn), she was bound to get spit out because her lifestyle made her downright frigid, and I’m sure there was so many sins to confess that she going to forget a few.
But she had caught wind of God’s heart blowing through the city and hope was stirred.
She didn’t seem to hesitate in approaching Jesus, did you notice that? She found out where He was dining and went there. It didn’t matter that Jesus was in the presence of a Pharisee (Simon was his name and judging was his game – but the woman seemed to be able to get into his home without issue, didn’t she?), she then began to weep and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears.
I can’t help but try to picture it. Was her weeping like ugly crying? Maybe there was a lot of snot to go with her tears and emotional noise that didn’t quite sound human. Or she might have been mostly silent as her tears fell onto Jesus’ feet – we just don’t know. But she was responding to love. The alabaster jar of perfume probably summed up her monetary wealth from her immoral life – and she covered His feet with it because she saw Him as more valuable. Love infused her with courage and boldness, a reckless abandon.
Love changed her because she understood grace. She only understood grace because she trusted that she was loved… and so did David.
David had an understanding on grace and God’s love that many New Covenant beneficiaries lack. David experienced the presence of God upon Him, but we have the presence of God in us all the time. David consistently brings up God’s lovingkindness, His goodness, and His salvation. And David repeatedly saw that God was going to be extravagant in showing us mercy.
The final words we read concerning the woman who had been forgiven much are absolutely beautiful:
And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:50 NASB
This word saved is from the Greek word sozo (Strong’s G4982). It very broadly means to make whole, to save, to deliver, to heal and to preserve. In Luke 7:50, this word is translated a bit more specifically: it is referring to sick persons, to save from death and to heal, restore to health, and be made to recover. Jesus was her salvation for her immoral life as well as her physical well-being.
David consistently spoke of the One who would bring such salvation. Hundreds of years before the forgiven woman sought Jesus in the home of the Pharisee, David sought out his Savior for forgiveness of his wicked actions with Bathsheba and Uriah (Psalm 51). David consistently referred to God as His rock, his fortress, and his hiding place. And David knew God as his Healer, Deliverer, and his Salvation (Psalm 62, Psalm 103 – just to list a few).
David had to trust God – that God would protect him and be his Good Shepherd (Psalm 23). He was a man after God’s own heart because he trusted in God’s love, grace, and mercy for him.
The unnamed woman in Luke 7 had to trust that she was loved by Jesus in order to approach Him. She had to believe that He would also show her love, grace and mercy.
I have to ask: do I trust God like that? Is it anywhere close to the level they trusted God? Do you?
Throughout scripture, we see that people were healed because they trusted Jesus’ willingness to heal. They never doubted that He could, but some weren’t sure of His willingness. And that’s where so many of us are stuck.
But Jesus is willing.
We might be stuck in this place of feeling unworthy, but the reality is that He made us worthy (Romans 3:22). We might fear being separated from the vine and thrown into the fire, but no one can separate what God has joined. No one can snatch us from His hands (John 10:25-30). No judgment is about to be heaped on you when you confess that Jesus is your Savior and Lord (John 5:24). If you make a decision to follow Jesus, you are not considered lukewarm – that’s from Revelation 3:16 and is referring to people who refuse to make a decision on following Jesus.
Do you trust that Jesus is willing? With all the excuses of unworthiness, burning branches, spit flying in the wind, and judgment no longer an issue, do you think you can trust God? I know I want to. It can be difficult with all the hurts, but that’s why I’m seeking Him – so I can get to the place of letting Him heal them. I want to trust His Word more than I trust this world.
As I mentioned last week, there is a lot that God has placed on my heart to share – trust being a big one – so there’s more to come next week of a similar fashion. I encourage you to continue seeking more and more of God. Make His kingdom more real to you than anything else. I bet that will strengthen your trust in Him and raise your expectations of experiencing His love.