The Refuge of Reputation


And David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man." 2 Samuel 24:14

In Greatest Showman PT Barnum approaches singing sensation Jenny Lind. She asks if he likes her music, and this time he doesn't put on a show. Barnum says her reputation precedes her, and her reputation is more important than his taste.

There we are, Christian, with the Lord. David is in such a place in life's drama in 2 Samuel 24:14. Faced with the consequences of his own sin, David trusts the Lord's reputation for mercy more than David's own ability to choose consequences. Like David, even if we walk closely with the Lord, we only sample a small part of His character at any point in time. Our experience with Him is filtered through our quirks and assumptions hurt, what could accurately be described with a label no more sophisticated than our taste.

Comparatively, God's glory, His reputation in public, is vast. Even within the context of one life, ours, which Scripture accurately describes as a vapor, we know Him better than the pressures of one moment would admit. Defaulting to admitting His goodness when the experience we are tasting at the moment isn't good puts us in a more objective place. Putting markers in our minds and our lives when He is especially good to us can help us to reflect on that when we are disappointed, or, as with David, guilty before Him. I've walked with You, Lord. You can be trusted more than my obstructed view.

God's reputation, of course, is bigger than the span of His dealings with us. That's why He gives us His Word. It is, among other gifts, His resume to establish the specifics of His reputation. We may not know Him to be the refuge of the mortally guilty, yet. Because His Word declares Him to be so, the refuge of His reputation is ready in advance. We may not know Him to be near to the broken in spirit, yet. Because His Word declares Him to be so, we can run, or stumble, or crawl to Him at precisely those times when we are in no condition to experiment beyond our experience.

There is Truth here more precisely to what Barnum meant as a purveyor of the public experience. When we share Him, when we preach Him, when we proclaim Him, we need not share every descriptor of those with whom we share. Based on God's reputation, we already know He is able to meet those we care about in places we aren't familiar with. He has knit them together uniquely, and He has particular plans of which we know not. His reputation is enough.

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