5.3.11

Song of the King

For several months last year, I was pretty haunted by the fall of King David. I wish I were more haunted by biblical stories. I say "fall" because, though he remained faithful to a certain extent, the events following Bathsheba and Uriah certainly have a markedly dissimilar note to everything that preceded it. And the big question is why. He found forgiveness, and in fact, that story is often used as an example of true repentance. But in the end, I can't ignore the sense that David himself was always afterward haunted by the departure of God's blessing (meaning that, whether the blessing actually left or not, David seemed to fear that it had). You can read 2 Samuel yourself, and let me know what you think.

So I wrote a song a while back, and thought I'd post it here. Click on the title to find the recording that you can download and listen to. Thanks to Clayton for the instruction on the mp3 player. Hopefully it works. Enjoy.




Ever since I fell
Ever since I lied
Ever since I sent him to the front line
And he died

Ever since you took him
The son of my own name
Ever since I took my neighbor's only lamb
To my shame

The world is fumbling in my hands
Stumbling all my plans
Crumbling where I stand

Now my sight is dimmed
Now I'm being cursed
Maybe now I am getting all
that I've deserved

Now I leave these city walls
Now Absalom has come
Maybe you have brought him here
and maybe I should run

Has favor come and gone
And now judgement in its stead?
In any shade
Let me fall into your hand.

Now they want me back
Now a broken man
To lead them from the throne again
But I don't think I can

Now Absalom is gone
Another son in the grave
Maybe you wanted me to stay and fight
Maybe then he would be saved

4 comments:

nic hawbaker said...

Drs. McLaughlin! Thanks for updating you post so frequently. I miss Tenwek deeply, but reading your blog makes me feel a bit more connected to the community and hospital there. Thanks for being a part of my experience there. I'm looking forward to hearing about your beautiful healthy new family member soon.

CI said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Timothy said...

Wow, Eric thanks for sharing your thoughts and challenging us to a new level of thinking. Though we are forgiven, there are still consequences for our actions. Thankfully, we are ruled by a just God.
Love, Mom and Dad

Rob Still said...

Eric, I love this song and your insights both in the blog post and the song itself.

David's life was never the same, though forgiven, there was a lot of sadness. You really capture the sense of regret he must have had, and I can relate to that.

Well done. Love you,
Rob