The distance between our sin and God’s holiness is infinite, but between a sinner and Jesus is just one step.
When David received news of the murder of Abner, he sent out the command: “Tear your clothes, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn for Abner” (2 Sam 3:31). How quickly the tide of history can change; how fickle is the world’s glory! Abner was honored with a state dinner one day and with a state funeral the next. “So they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept” (v 32). On that occasion, the king sang a lament over Abner: “Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound nor your feet put into fetters; as a man falls before wicked men, so you fell” (vv 33- 34). Now Abner was no fool, but he died like one. To die in the shadow of the gate, one step from safety, and all the time he was free to make that move. No ropes tied his hands; no fetters held his feet. These words of David have a clear application to so many today. The Savior waits to save. In Paul’s words, “They should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). Or as he would later write, quoting Deuteronomy 30:14, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (Rom 10:8). The word of confession is on the tip of your tongue! No need to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to make the hajj and circle the Kaaba, to swim in the Ganges, or to climb the Reek on your knees. To the seeking soul, Jesus is as close as a prayer. We can offer Good News to criminals spiked to a cross because it’s a journey of the heart, not of the feet. In the death of Abner we have a solemn warning to many who have nothing holding them back but their own stubborn wills. The enemy lurks in the shadows. But Jesus is nearer still.