After deceiving David with a  made up story of woe, a wise woman from Tekoa says, “All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him” (2Sam 14:14 NLT).

Taken by themselves such words prove nothing. They can be interpreted as truth— or fiction— spoken by an unnamed actor who shows up in the middle of a tragic series of events that exposed the lingering pain and estrangements of a shattered royal family  (2Samuel 13).

But who among us— desperate for hope— is too sure of ourselves to wonder.  Do these words resonate with the God we think we know? Are they true to the One who seems to show up here and there within the pages of Scripture as a God who knows our name, feels our pain—and cares with mercies greater than our fears? Do they sound like One who, not far north of Tekoa, allowed himself to be misunderstood, mocked, and crucified— to express a love greater than our own— and without which we would remain alone, together and yet hopelessly estranged— in this life, and the one to come?

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