March 9, 2011 (2 Samuel 11-12, I Chronicles 20)

Today's reading encompassed the story of David and Bathsheba, and although I've read it many times, I saw something that I had never noticed before. I'll get to that at the end.

I just have such a hard time with understanding what David did, but realize any and all of us are capable. And it starts with little things, like not being faithful to your responsibilities. The story begins with "The following spring, the time of year when kings go to war, David sent Joab......". The verse said "when kings GO to war" - David was king, and yet he stayed behind and sent someone in his place. It all started there - not doing what he knew he should do.

And then we read "Late one afternoon David got out of bed after taking a nap....". So not only was he unfaithful to his responsibilities, he was lazy. I get the feeling he was bored: reminds me of the saying 'boredom is the devil's workshop' came from.

So when God confronts him with his sin, He reminds David that his sin was against Himself when He says "because you have despised Me by taking Uriah's wife as your own".  He sinned against Bathsheba and against Uriah, but the ultimate sin was against God.  And whenever we sin, 'we give the enemies of the Lord great opportunity to despise and blaspheme' God.

The baby is born, God takes the baby, Bathsheba gets pregnant and has another son and they name him Solomon. Verse 26 of chapter 12 begins "Meanwhile, Joab and the Israelite army were successfully ending their siege....".  I'm not sure how long the army was at war, but I get the feeling it was a long time. A long time for David to be out of God's will - to be shirking his duties. I would imagine if he had to do it all over again, he would have gone to war as he should have; he would have done what he needed to do to keep in line with his responsibilities. That's the beauty of God's word. He allows us to see the mistakes of others so that we don't have to make them ourselves. But He also gives us a choice. We can choose whatever path we wish, but He has forewarned us of the consequences.  I skipped this portion, but let me go back to it:

^{2 Samuel 12:7} “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. ⁸ I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. ⁹ Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. ¹⁰ From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

 ¹¹ “This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. ¹² You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”

 ¹³ Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

   Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”

Just because David repented and confessed, there were still consequences he had to suffer. Yes, he was forgiven, but there are always consequences for sin.