by Tim Kneezel

As I was reading today's reading, my first thought was "Oh great … another short blurb about a rotten ruler who goes to war and dies." I think that would actually be a fairly good summation of most of the information about Abijah. However, the two verses about David literally stunned me, especially verse 5. "For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his life – except in the case of Uriah the Hittite." Yeah, that Uriah. The one whose wife David coveted and subsequently impregnated. The guy that David arranged to have killed because he couldn't trick him into thinking the unborn child was his. There are at least three out of the Ten Commandments broken there.

So what makes David so different from his great-grandson Abijah? Why does God bless David so much even though he is clearly a flawed individual? Why is Abijah called out for being such a sinful man?

I think it comes down to one simple concept: the attitude of the heart. Sure David is flawed – and rather amazingly flawed when it comes to Bathsheba – but God is not waiting around for us to reach perfection before blessing us. What God desires is our hearts, fully and completely. David sinned, but when he was confronted about his sins he confessed and was forgiven. Abijah's sins were many, and he could have received the same forgiveness that David but he refused to acknowledge the sins for what they were because his heart had turned against God.

Abijah teaches us that no sin is too small to separate us from God, but David teaches us that no sin is so large that it can't be covered by God's grace and mercy if we are willing to give it over to God.

Your fellow traveler,
Tim