As you have come to expect, I started out with the wrong readings for this morning. But the readings that popped up included this gem from Psalm 146:

³   Do not put your trust in princes,
          in mortals, in whom there is no help.
⁴   When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
          on that very day their plans perish.

Even those who don't recognize that they are princes have to admit that they are mortals... don't look to anybody for help, and not yourself either. As soon as any of us dies, there go all our big plans. That doesn't stop me from planning. I've got plans. But I am always aware that they could go PooF in a heartbeat... or, rather, a lack of heartbeat. Act on your plans while you can, that's my way of looking at it.

In the actual readings for today we have David dancing before the ark of the covenant and his wife Michal mocking him for it. Apparently David was dancing like a commoner, not behaving "royal" at all. Imagine Michal's embarrassment. LOL. David was just being himself, which is what God asks him to be.

When we are reading these passages it's important to keep in mind that there are good guys and bad guys. The writer is saying: Be like this guy, don't be like that guy: be like Abigail, be like David, be like Samuel; don't  be like Michal, don't be like Saul, don't be like Nabal, etc. Of course, people's status changes from good to bad and back again, so you have to read carefully. But in this passage I think the message is that God has rejected the trappings and dignity of high office and replaced it with authenticity, action from the heart, dancing with the common people.

I wrote a thing for Speaking To The Soul for yesterday about Nathan and David. I especially like the picture I chose for it because it shows David and Nathan talking it over. Most of the images I looked at showed Nathan pointing an accusing finger at David, but I don't think that's how it went down. I mean, I wasn't there, but Nathan didn't come in all accusatory. He came in and told a story. That sounds to me more like a guy who intended to let revelation take its course, to let the light shine at its own pace. Of course, David turned out to be a little denser than Nathan had thought and he had to say, "Look, it's you! You are the man." But, even then, I suspect he was gentler than some of the pictures I saw.

Here's something you might not know about the story of David and Bathsheba. Did you know that during those times it was common for men to divorce their wives before they went off to battle? So, it's possible that Bathsheba wasn't actually married at the time David took her. It's still not right, what he did. But it might not have been adultery the way it gets portrayed. She was still the much-loved little lamb of another.

OK. Everybody have a great day. I'll see you later.