Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Job 1.“Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” Heaven’s courtroom hears the arguments of the Prosecutor General in Job 1. When he puts Job on trial, the most righteous man on earth, all of humanity is examined with him: Isn’t it the reward that motivates us? If God always rewards good behavior, how can we really be just? Then again, how can God be just if He doesn’t! Such questions attempt to command God with His own law. Our pride must die in One even more righteous than Job. Jesus the Christ is the rest of the story, in whom God and man are both truly just.

Rev. Dennis McFadden, pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 24.“Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them.” David was losing his grip on the North, and he wanted to remind them who was in charge. In chapter 24 God uses David’s sinful power play to bring His proud messiah and the whole nation to repentance. Whereas David tries to unite through power, God offers unity through grace and forgiveness at the new Jerusalem altar for all twelve tribes. As the ultimate once-and-for-all sacrifice, Jesus Christ offers unity for all the tribes of our human race.

Rev. Steven Theiss, pastor of Hanover Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 23.“He dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.” So is it cloudless, or are there rainclouds? David’s oracle frames the paradox of the entire 23rd chapter: David’s reign was a fading glory, but it was also a pale image of what was to come. He seemed noble in his refusal to drink from Bethlehem’s well while his men fought and died for him, but his murder of Uriah became all the more damning. Yet David also anticipated Christ, who sacrificed His own life for us as He refused even the most meager of comforts, let alone the kingly riches He now shares with His church.

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 22.“Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed.” Instead of a lawyer, imagine going to a minstrel for your last will and testament! This is no victory chant; chapter 22 is David’s swan song looking back on how God has saved his life time and time again. The point is not that David was a superior or more deserving man. Rather, despite his sins, God showed him grace for the sake of His promise: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” David felt like he kept reliving the nightmare of his youth, running from Saul in the forms of Ish-bosheth, Absalom, Sheba, and even a disastrous three-year famine. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God finally banishes the spectre of our past, because David’s “offspring” rules as the LORD’s Anointed forever.

Rev. Dustin Beck, pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Warda, Texas, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 47.You might say the Korahites had a legacy of objecting to monarchical power: “You have gone too far!” Korah accused Moses & Aaron. “Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” In collective repentance, the Korahite composer of Psalm 47 does not rebel like his ancestor, but gently reminds the newly-ascended king of Judah that “the LORD, the Most High” is the true king, even over the foreign rulers or “shields of the earth.” Judah’s king was a mere shadow of the King of Creation, anticipating the ascension of Jesus the true Christ, whose rule truly causes “all peoples” to clap, shout, and sing. Faith’s perspective resists rebellion, but pledges ultimate allegiance only to Heaven’s throne.

Rev. Scott Adle, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 20.David tries to fire him, but Joab just won’t leave. His ruthlessness and cold calculation are on full display when he murders Amasa his replacement. But Joab isn’t one-dimensional, showing restraint with the wise woman of Abel, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy!” Ultimately we see a reflection of our own mercurial selfishness, never willing to step aside until our dying day. Satan may be powerful like Joab, but Jesus Christ is the king. One day He will finish what He started, but in the meantime, faithful women reflect the wisdom and grace given to the church by God’s Spirit.

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 19.“You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you.” Joab’s not wrong. Although David’s grief reflects his unconditional love and forgiveness towards his children, in chapter 19 he goes too far the other way, failing to show gratitude for the men who have bled and died for him. We too sometimes idolize health or family to the point of neglecting our church, our community, or our country. When David returns as king, he grants equal measures of mercy to all, potentially upsetting loyalists. This is however how Jesus Christ shows God’s love, which is less concerned with fairness than with repairing relationships and restoring unity.

Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 18.“O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” David would’ve gladly given his life even for his son who tried to kill him. Chapter 18 is full of heart-wrenching irony: Ultimately, Jesus Christ became a second Absalom, accused of insurrection, hanged on a tree, and pierced with a spear. Likewise his death was a “victory proclamation,” gospel in the original sense. Despite His allies’ reasonable advice, Christ spurned His own success so that the truth-telling Joab of Satan would be overcome by the greater truth of God’s loving mercy.

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 17.“The LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom.” There was no way out for David—the strategy of his treacherous former advisor was perfect. “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.” Chapter 17 shows how no amount of wealth, power, or intelligence can thwart God’s purposes. God is constantly at work in the little details and the little people, like the clever servant woman by the well. Like Christ, she doesn’t navel-gaze or worry about her righteousness. She simply does what’s necessary to love and serve.

Rev. Benjamin Maton, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 16.“Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to.” Israel was playing a life-and-death poker game, polarized between pro-David and pro-Saul/Absalom factions. In our own age of polarization, we are quick to defend our team no matter the criticism, but David humbly accepts Shimei’s curse. If we are honest about our humanity, all criticisms against us have a kernel of truth. We’re tired of “the game” and the posturing, but we’re addicted to it. Freedom comes in Jesus Christ, who refused to play the game, humbly accepting the curses and becoming our curse for us.