1 Samuel 24 comes when David is still on the run from Saul. Suddenly, the paths of the two men cross in a cave, and David actually has the upper hand through the element of surprise. Urged on by his men to see this as God’s way of finally getting rid of Saul and thus establishing his claim to be king, David resists the temptation to kill Saul and shows mercy instead of vengeance. He speaks to Saul and reminds him that he has never harmed him, even when he has had the opportunity, and promises loyalty to him. Saul, with the evidence of a torn robe showing him just how close David actually got to him, is forced to acknowledge the truth of David’s words and asks him to show mercy to his descendants when he is gone (something David has already sworn to do because of his covenant with Jonathan.)

The chapter shows us much about mercy. Mercy is defined as ‘compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.’ In a surprising turn of events, David the hunted is in a position to harm Saul, but he refuses to succumb to this temptation (even though his men urge him to, based on their interpretation of what God has promised him ultimately, the chance to be king of Israel.) David demonstrates a trust in God’s sovereignty and an attitude of submissive servanthood which seem surprising to us given his prowess as a warrior. David does not wish harm to Saul; he recognises him as the Lord’s anointed, and he is prepared to wait for God to make him king. He does not need to manipulate the situation or commit wrongdoing – doing the ‘right thing’ in the ‘wrong way’ violates how we are meant to live; as we teach children, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.’ David’s way of mercy goes against the grain, but it is the way of the cross, where grace and mercy meet. We are to be merciful to others, just as our heavenly Father is merciful to us (Luke 6:36).

Today’s household object is the computer and the Bible passage is Ezekiel 36:24-29, where God promises to remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.

The blue screen of death. Have you ever faced that? You turn on your computer, and instead of it whirring into life, you simply see a blue screen. You can’t access any of the files on the computer; you can’t connect to the Internet. Things that normally take seconds are just impossible to achieve. Sometimes, the problem is with the hard disk which acts as the computer’s memory. It can be corrupted and we may need expert help in recovering the precious data it contains.

Ezekiel was a prophet during the difficult days of exile, when God’s people were far from their homeland. They felt disoriented, depressed and frustrated. ‘Their memories of the past and their hopes for the future, along with their possessions and networks of relationships, had been disrupted.’ (‘At Home In Lent’, P 124) It was into this situation that Ezekiel brought a word of hope, that God would give them new hearts of flesh to replace the seized-up, sinful ones of ‘stone.’

The gospel story tells us that we can have a clean start, a fresh start, that God can and will restore and renew what is broken, enabling anyone to start afresh, any time. That’s good news!

Today’s household object is the television and the Bible passage is Mark 8:22-26.

Television allows us to see the world through new eyes, giving us access to the whole world. What we see can dismay and depress us or drive us to prayer; it can lift our spirits, make us laugh or cry, and can also teach us and inform us. As with so many things, it can be a good servant but a poor master; we need to learn to be wise in what we allow our eyes to see and our ears to hear, but we also need to appreciate the different viewpoints which this device can show us.

In our reading, Jesus healed a blind man in two stages: initially, the man saw people, but they looked like trees walking! This reminds us that we need to see the world through God’s eyes; we need spiritual vision and discernment as we view the world. Easter reminds us that what happened looked like failure and disaster to most people, but was actually all part of God’s plan for our salvation. We need to see as God sees.

We continue in the book of Ecclesiastes today (Eccl 3:9-15) and our household object is the calendar. For many people, a calendar still hangs in paper form in our house (I love mine, as it’s a photo calendar with pictures of my grandchildren on each month) For others, a phone calendar helps us keep track of appointments and commitments. Calendars remind us of important dates (including religious holidays and Bank holidays) and can be used to keep track of important dates (birthdays, anniversaries etc.) as well as more mundane appointments.

Gordon Giles says, ‘The writer of Ecclesiastes gives us a sobering perspective on the busyness of our lives and the tendency to be guided, even rules, by calendars or diaries. For no matter how busy we are, or how full our calendars, time marches on: everything we do, or plan to do, or have done, needs to be placed in perspective against the eternal, divine time of God.’ (‘At Home In Lent’, P 113) It’s one thing to plan ahead, but as James reminds us, we need to plan with God and not assume! (James 4:13-15)

Our household objects today are keepsakes and our Bible passage is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

Are you a hoarder or a de-clutterer? Keepsakes are usually objects that might not have a practical purpose in the home such as the washing-machine or vacuum cleaner but which we keep because of the memories that are attached to them or the sentimental value they have, being a gift from a loved one.

According to our Bible passage, there is a time to gather such objects and a time to let them go too. The Bible calls us to remember many things – chiefly the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, which we do most significantly as we share in Holy Communion, that love feast inaugurated immediately before His death – but it also reminds us that there are things we need to let go of and forget (see Isaiah 43:18). Getting the balance right isn’t always easy, but this Lent period is a good time perhaps to de-clutter (that ‘spring clean’ that is necessary to keep on top of things!) and to ponder what is really important and must always be remembered.