Remorse, Preparation, and Woe

The readings set before us three dangers and one remedy. The dangers are pride, luxury, and false peace. David desired to measure his strength, as though the people were his possession and not the Lord’s flock. Zion lay at ease, drinking and reclining while Joseph’s ruin was ignored. And even the good name of peace can be abused when men want comfort without repentance. But the remedy is a humbled heart that turns quickly, and hands that labor for the house of God.

When David fell, he did not defend himself. As Irenaeus says, “David, however, was struck with remorse on hearing this, and exclaimed, ‘I have sinned against the Lord;’ and he sung a penitential psalm, waiting for the coming of the Lord, who washes and makes clean the man who had been fast bound with [the chain of] sin.” This is the road back: confession without excuse, repentance without delay.

Then David prepared for the temple. Though he would not build it, he gathered stone, iron, cedar, and ordered the work. Repentance is not bare speech; it sets the altar in order. It gives itself to prayer, correction, and service. It prepares peace for those who come after. Yet Amos warns against another kind of peace, the peace of indulgence. Justin repeats the charge against those “who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” To neglect the suffering of the brethren while living softly is to invite woe, not rest.

Therefore let us seek the kingdom of the true Son, whose house stands forever: not numbering our strength, not loving ease, but repenting, preparing, and bearing one another’s burdens.