March 18, 2023

 

2 Samuel, chapter seven verses 4 and 8-16 recounts the story of The Lord speaking to a man named Nathan, a prophet, about the home he will build for Nathan. While he explains the house will be built for him in Israel, he goes on to talk about a messiah. A son of God who will be full of the love of God, and will likewise share in his grace and glory, but The Lord also warns of the wrath of man against this son, “the rod of man, and the blow of mortals.” While the bible quotes God using the word “discipline”, we can interpret this section to be an allegory for our harsh and sometimes unwise judgement, prejudices, and disciplinary or punishing actions we sometimes award those in our life unfairly. I know for me personally, it can be hard to have patience with the people in my life on bad or busy days when I am stressed, but we all are equals experiencing different but valid problems. This passage offers us peace of mind, as we can see Jesus as our home, our place of shelter and rest where we can go to recharge and find our self again and try to do better with our fellow man the next day.

A song I think mirrors this message well, is the classic Where is The Love by the Black Eyed Peas. It talks about the problems world-wide while also expressing the problems on our own shores. For the image I’ve chosen a sunset. A moment in the day where you can feel the stillest, and feel closest to heaven, closer to peace, and with that, ironically help us feel closer to the men and women around us.

 - Alice Doherty