Let Grace and Mercy Rule Again

650 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Sa 21:11-14, “And David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. 12 Then David went and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan his son, from the men of Jabesh Gilead who had stolen them from the street of Beth Shan, where the Philistines had hung them up, after the Philistines had struck down Saul in Gilboa. 13 So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged. 14 They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land. (2 Sam 21:11-14) How many years had the bones of Saul and Jonathan lay in a non-descript place seemingly forgotten by all. But this one act of Rizpah's which bestowed honor upon her dead sons prompted David to do the same for Saul and Jonathan. A quick lesson for all of us from Rizpah: You never know what your sacrificial acts of love will prompt in others. This small deed of a single mom, moved a king to noble action! By giving a proper burial to Rizpah's sons and including them in the royal family's gravesite. David bestowed the honor upon Rizpah's sons that she desired. All of these actions culminated in God removing the curse from the land. Justice for the evil of Saul's house was satisfied and grace was flowing once again in the land as exhibited by the actions of David. And the story ends with God heeding the prayer of the land and bringing the much needed rain. I hope we can all learn a very important lesson from this incident: God judges national sin. When and how He does it is up to Him. America will pay for it's sin against the innocent blood of the unborn, and in fact may already be paying for it with increased acts of senseless violence making the news. When, and if, America wakes up and once again protects life from conception to grave, we, like David must also be willing to offer grace to those who have offended. Father, forgive our national sin of legalized abortion. Open our eyes to the wrong we have done, and let grace toward all living beings rule in our nation again.