Paul describes mercy as great which is so true. What is also true are the consequences that we reap from our sin. We can know complete forgiveness and yet we still have to live with the consequences of that sin.
As the story of David and his relationship with Bathsheba unfolds we watch him falling deeper into sin. David receives a note.
And the woman conceived, and sh sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” 2 Samuel 11:5
What do we do with sin? Rather than confess it, rather than repent from it we try and cover it up. Why do we do that?
Three times David tries to cover up his mistakes. He is deliberate and relentless in his cover up and has convinced himself that this is the right thing to do.
First, he summons Uriah home and tries to manipulate things so that the child will be thought to be Uriah’s (2 Samuel 11:7-8). He sent him home to sleep with his wife, but it does not work because Uriah is a man of principle and puts his soldiers’ safety above his own pleasure.
Secondly, he tries to get Uriah drunk (2 Samuel 11: 11-12) but that does not work either.
David is now desperate to cover up his sin and realises that the only thing left for him to do is to get rid of Uriah and marry Bathsheba. How low we sink when sin takes hold. David’s plan is against the Mosaic law and carries the death penalty so Uriah’s death has to look like bravery. David draws Joab again into his sinful plans and the deed is done. Uriah dies in battle. Bathsheba mourns the loss of her husband then marries David (2 Samuel 11:14-27). What a mess!
What we see, in all of this, is that David has hardened his heart towards God. He has been governed by his own thoughts and emotions and isolated himself. Uriah was loyal to him yet that did not matter. Bathsheba was the daughter of one of David’s trusted advisors but that did not matter. When sin gets a grip it is like a spiral, and our conscience gets hardened and we find excuses as to why sin is right.
What is shocking is that a year went by and there is no getting near to David. There was no expression of regret, sadness or repentance. Our sin can become a lifestyle. Some treat this passage by saying, but I am not a person in power, I have not murdered or committed adultery so it does not apply to me. What we are looking at here is how sin works, how it takes hold and manipulates.
We think we can hide from God but we cannot. We think we can cover up our mistakes but we cannot. David would not admit he had sinned, so God sends his prophet Nathan who tells David a story. It is a story of a wealthy man with an abundance of sheep and cattle and a poor guy with one sheep which was more like his companion. A traveller visits the wealthy man who decides that he will feed the traveller with the poor guy’s one and only sheep when he had fields full of his own (2 Samuel 12:1-4)! This was David’s response to the story.
Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 2 Samuel 12:5-6
Nathan utters these words that cut to the heart of David “you are that man” (vs 7). He then proceeds to give David what he has heard from God. There are two things to be seen. One, an openness to a friend speaking into our lives, who does that to you? The second is found in vs 13 “I have sinned against the Lord” as soon as those words have humbly come out of our mouths we are on the road to restoration.
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Galatians 6:1
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
David testified to the power of this confession in Psalm 32
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. SelahPsalm 32:3-5
The guilt of David’s sin affected him physically he found relief only through full confession, a painful yet great lesson to learn.
Thank you so much for sharing.
2 Samuel 11 and 12 present a very compelling and sad story – a faithful and duty-bound soldier dies because his king and master desired and knew his beautiful wife in the midst of a war. It’s one of the biblical stories I have tried to understand (time and time again), so I’d be leaving a fairly long comment in a bid to share my thoughts about these passages.
Though not explicitly recorded in the bible, one can’t but wonder about Mrs. Uriah’s culpability in David’s adultery. Did she refuse the king and try to stand her ground as a married woman who was covenanted to one of the king’s elite soldiers according to God’s ordinance? Or did she sheepishly yield to David’s poise and authority? Did she also sin very much like David did – an adulteress? Or was she simply under the yoke of a lustful king who caused her to commit adultery with him? I’d like to think she cowered before the great king David of Israel, the moment she appeared before him.
Naturally, one would expect a very loving husband who has been far away from home, braving it night and day in the heat, anxieties and fears of many battles to have missed his beautiful wife and desire to be with her. Uriah was either a man who placed duty before his wife/family or he was a very discerning man who probably knew David had entered into his wife from the king’s gestures. I’d like to think the latter was the case; Uriah couldn’t stand the sight waiting for him at his house and he chose to lay at the door of the palace (a “too” lowly place for a high ranking soldier) with the servants, rather than go home to be with Mrs. Uriah. In all these things, there was no record of it that Uriah showed bitterness.
As an elite soldier, Uriah was highly likely to be learned and he may have also (out of curiosity) read his death sentence which was inked by his master and king. Be that as it may, he faithfully passed David’s message to Joab, his captain. His king betrayed him and his captain and brothers in arms did the same at the instruction of their king through Joab. Uriah was isolated and left to die alone. However, God was watching all the machinations and odds against Uriah and He would later speak for a dead Hittite (Uriah) against an Israelite (David) who was the apple of His eye through His prophet because He cannot be mocked (Galatians 6).
It’s always like a walk on a slippery floor when one (especially, one who is in a position of authority or leadership) is surrounded by those who can’t rebuke one (even when it is justifiable to do so as far as possible) from venturing into irrational and sinful escapades. David lingered on in his sinfulness until the Prophet Nathan showed up to convict and convince him. Surely, there were others (apart from the Prophet) around King David and Queen Bathsheba who were mute and probably never dared to speak against the king and his new beautiful wife whose husband has recently died.
In this day and time, we are so blessed to have the Holy Spirit who daily convinces and convicts us of our sinfulness, spurring us to confess our shortcomings and sins to the Father through Jesus Christ our Saviour, daily as we live, before we and the situations around us spiral out of control due to our frivolousness and remorselessness.
May we never grow weary in our desire to lead and live a holy, pleasing and acceptable life before God as we work (through faith and perseverance) towards becoming better and not bitter in the face of the many disappointments or let-downs that our ventures and duties may throw our way in this present-day.
Thank you again for sharing.
God bless.