Author: Scott

How to (and How not to) Say Sorry

Let not my lord hold me guilty . . . For your servant knows that I have sinned. 2 Samuel 19:19-20 As addicts have usually caused much injury in the lives of those around us, we have had much to apologize for. We should be good at it, but because it is our nature to follow…
Read more

Asking the Painful Questions

Then the king arose and took his seat . . .2 Samuel 19:8 Recently, I broke a tooth and required a temporary replacement while the permanent fix was being made. As the temporary tooth was discolored and misshapen, I was self-conscious enough that I avoided smiling and apparently I talked funny, trying to hide the…
Read more

How to Talk to an Addict

I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. 2 Samuel 19:6 The most common question I get is, How do I talk to the addict in my life? How do I make him get help? As I came across today’s passage, I realized that Joab’s confrontation…
Read more

Metastatic Sex

. . . Being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her. 2 Samuel 13:14 The problem with cancer is not that it purposefully tries to kill its host. The problem with cancer is that it does what it wants, growing, multiplying and spreading outside of its boundaries. Cancer lives only to propagate…
Read more

The Long Dark Night

And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 2 Samuel 12:16 When at the bottom of my addiction, in the darkness of realizing that I had killed everything good in my life, it was difficult to see any light. The world was black, and hope was a joke. It was in…
Read more

Forgiveness and Consequences

The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless . . . the child who is born to you shall die. 2 Samuel 12:13,14 Someone recently asked me if forgiving meant forgetting. I don’t think the question was about literally forgetting, but rather, Does forgiveness mean we are supposed to live as…
Read more

Who Is the Villain?

Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” 2 Samuel 12:7 After watching the most recent superhero movie, my son was irritated that the story made us sympathize with the villain. The identity of the villain was never in question to us – he was the one attempting to kill half the world – but from…
Read more

Lie, Cheat and Steal

Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die. 2 Samuel 11:15 For the addict, intoxication is only part of the problem. The drug use is certainly caustic behavior, but for it to continue, the addict usually must lie, cheat and steal.…
Read more

Kryptonite and Compromise

David . . . saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 2 Samuel 11:2 Years ago, I met a retired physician near the end of his life, which was hastened in no small part, by his drug addiction. He did not want to address the issue directly, but still, he…
Read more

Dancing in Church

David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 2 Samuel 6:14 I do not dance. It makes me uncomfortable, not physically uncomfortable, but self-conscious – everyone is looking and pointing – uncomfortable. I just cannot get past the insecurity of feeling like I’m making a spectacle of…
Read more