Mark 2:25-26 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”

“Have you never read” … it was like the shot heard ’round the world. The religious leaders of the time had built themselves up as the one’s who knew the scripture, the one’s who had the proper understanding of scripture, the ones with the authority to wield scripture AND the one’s who could keep the scriptures. Jesus’ remark, “Have you never read” would have caused all jaws to drop … His disciples, John’s disciples, the crowd and the religious leaders.

It was a shocking thing to say, but Jesus said it out of love. You see, we can get this impression that the Pharisees were the enemies of Jesus, but scripture testifies to the great lengths Jesus went to in order to reach them. Time and again, He responded to their arguments. He could have just ignored them, but He loved them and wanted to reach them. And that’s why He needed to shake them up.

I know in my life, it has often taken a good shaking up before I would shut up and listen. But I’m just thick skulled like that; you’re probably not. God wants our focus to be on Him, so sometimes he allows shock and shaking in our lives to get our attention. That job that has all your attention, that thing that has stolen your heart from God … whatever it is, God’s mercy is such that He will remove those things from our lives so that our focus goes back to Him. Sometimes God shakes our world so that all the things we consider to be ”our best” fall to the ground. You know, God’s best is far better than our best and that’s what He wants for us. So, when God shocks you out of your pride and shakes to pieces the distractions in your life, praise Him. God loves you that much.