2 Sam 24:2, 9-17 / Mk 6:1-6
Few things are more humiliating and frustrating than having to acknowledge exactly how long our learning curve is. We make the same mistakes over and over, and in some cases we never break out of our dysfunctional life patterns all our life long. For most of us, our nightly examination of conscience could be put on tape and replayed indefinitely.
We get a good picture of this phenomenon in today’s reading from the Book of Samuel. King David was in trouble yet again. He’d ordered a census of all the tribes of Israel “that I may know their number.” So what’s wrong with that? Isn’t a census just a good tool for rational planning? For us it would be, but for David it was an ego issue, something akin to a miser counting his money over and over and gloating over the power that it gave him.
David had forgotten yet again where his real power source, his real life source, was. His ego was out of control again, and the Lord spoke to him sternly. David listened, and heard in his heart the truth of what the Lord had to say. David repented — yet again — and the Lord forgave him yet again.
The message is simple: Don’t ever give up, because the Lord will never give up on you.
