Failures and God’s Mercy

15 March 2026  1 Samuel 16:1,6-7,10-13

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

“…and from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.”

(1 Samuel 16:13)

So, “from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David” (1 Samuel 16:13). Oh yeah?

Well, where was that rushing Spirit when David was stalking Bathsheba from the rooftop, and commencing an affair with her? Where was the rushing Spirit when David conspired in the death of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, and David’s most loyal and trusted warrior? Where was the rushing Spirit when David ignored the rape of his daughter Tamar by her half-brother Amnon, which so angered Absalom, Amnon’s brother, that he planned a coup, and just about pulled it off? Where was the rushing Spirit when David didn’t call off Joab, when David had plenty of reason to think that Joab meant to kill Absalom? Where was the rushing Spirit when Joab was never punished?

It seems like David was awfully free to ignore the Spirit rushing upon him.

But David is not the only one. There are also all the old people in Church. They know all about that, too.

It is often tempting to see a lot of gray heads and bald heads in Church, and think that the Church is failing, and sometimes it is, but it isn’t because of the gray heads and bald heads. It is because of the reluctant lips that don’t share any longer the Good News of God’s mercy.

You get to a certain age, and you start to remember all the people who have reason to remember you as a jerk, a regret, a failure as a partner, sibling, neighbor, friend, or boss. Those memories are hard to carry around.

Of course all those people you have failed or wronged don’t have the whole story – they don’t know all the things you have repented of, all the lessons you learned from your failures, all the ways you’ve gotten better. It isn’t any longer possible to track down all those people and let them know – some have moved many times, some have different names, some have died. All that’s left is the unfortunate memories. But God knows. He knows all the opportunities we missed, for sure, but he also knows all the ones we didn’t, the ones that opened our eyes and changed our minds, the ones that we go to Church and say Thank You for, Sabbath after Sabbath, year after year. Those are the ones we talk about in the hope that our experience may help a partner, sibling, neighbor, friend, or boss.

David knew that, too. Have you ever wondered why we know about Amnon and Tamar? Uriah and Bathsheba? Joab and Absalom? For that matter, why do we know anything about Peter’s denial of Jesus in the High Priest’s courtyard? For all these events, there were no witnesses, no one taking notes. So how do we know, and how did all these things find their way into the Bible? We know them because David and Peter told them themselves. They wanted others to know about their failures, and more importantly God’s mercy. They told those stories for the rest of their lives.

They wanted others to know that the Spirit of the Lord is rushing still.

The old people in Church want that, too. It is often tempting to see a lot of gray heads and bald heads in Church, and think that the Church is failing, and sometimes it is, but it isn’t because of the gray heads and bald heads. It is because of the reluctant lips that don’t share any longer the Good News of God’s mercy.

The Spirit of the Lord is rushing still. Speak up.