A Fresh Start

"For the strong arm of the wicked shall be broken,
     but the Lord upholds the righteous." Psalm 37, vs. 17
Does the prescription of punishment for the wicked and rewards for the righteous seem a little too simplistic to you?  Does is sound like a superficial seal of approval that covers over the murkiness of our human existence?
Consider the first chapters of the Book of Kings.  While King David lay dying his sons are squaring off over his throne, and everyone has a score to settle.  How can justice be done?

• The eldest son, Adonijah, claims the crown, and has invited everyone to his inaugural banquet.
• Among his supporters  are the high priest Abiathar, like our Secretary of State, and Joab, acting as the Secretary of Defense, as well as all the top bureaucrats;
• David, however, had promised the throne to Solomon, his younger son by another marriage, and has the help of only two religious leaders with one lesser official, and the members of his royal bodyguard, the equivalent of our Secret Service.

The future hung in the balance. 
Then King David ordered them to place Solomon on his own mule, the Presidential limousine of its day, to take him to Gihon. "There let Zadoc the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him King over Israel. . . .And people shouted 'Long live King Solomon!'... so that the earth split with the noise." I Kings Ch. 1, vs. 34 & 40.
On hearing the noise, Adonijah, and all those with him, realized the game was up; they had overplayed their hand.  At the moment of their triumph, tasting victory, they were swept away utterly.

• Adonijah, double minded to the end, loses his life,
• Joab, steeped in the blood of innocent men, is executed,
• Abaithar is banished for life.

"And Solomon succeeded his father David as king, and was firmly established on the throne."
Does this seem murky to you?  From our perspective, our own lives often appear so, and our choices are like logs in a jam.  Reading the Book of Kings, however, we can see that God's purposes are worked out through it all.  As we become familiar with the personalities of the Bible, and their circumstances, the mists begin to clear, revealing God's hand upon them: the strong arm of the wicked being broken, and those who trust in the righteousness of God, being upheld.
It means a fresh start for everyone, ourselves included.
Does that seem simple to you?