[One-Verse Meditation]

2 Samuel 17:29, ESV

“honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat, for they said, ‘The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.’”

(Meditation)

When David arrived at Mahanaim, several of the local people brought supplies and food for David and those with him. Scripture records the heart behind their kindness in this way:

“For they said, ‘The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.’”

Here, their hearts and the heart of God are held together. There is a good heart that can see those who are weary and worn, and there is the heart of God working through that heart. When there are eyes that know how to look around, a heart that can sympathize with another’s situation, and steps that follow from that seeing and feeling, a community is built up. Through these people, David and his company receive strength to rise again. They reorganize the army and go into battle.

The church is the same. The church is a community that, in Christ Jesus, looks upon brothers and sisters, shares one heart, and cares for one another. Yet that kind of life is not produced merely by our own kindness. It is because the heart of God first flows within the church—the God who has compassion on us and who looks upon our hunger, our thirst, and our weariness.

The church is the place where those who have received that heart of God open their eyes toward one another, share their hearts, and take real steps toward each other. In that way, the glance that helps bear one person’s condition, the heart that embraces one person’s pain, and the step that actually goes to that person make the church truly the church. It is a community made one family by the work of the Holy Spirit. Luke records that picture like this:

“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46–47).

(Prayer)

Lord, the church is the community that receives Your word, shares fellowship, breaks bread, and prays together. Hold my eyes, my heart, and my steps, so that I may be there and richly enjoy what it means to be Your church. Amen.
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(Daily Meditation)

2 Samuel 17:27–18:12