David: David Sins & Repents
We have already examined the issue of David's 2nd giant, which overcame him, which was his yielding to the sin of lust.
We looked at the issue of David's violation of the Lord's commands from Deuteronomy concerning his taking both multiple wives and m9re concubines into his house. Those actions were clearly expressions of his arrogance as to his being king and able to do as he pleased.
The issue that was more serious than these sins was the taking of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his -most loyal soldiers: While we are well aware of the story, it makes goods_e,nse to remember the progress of this episode.
David remained in Jerusalem while his troops were at war. While in his self imposed idleness, he saw Bathsheba from his royal home balcony as she bathed on her roof. David"'allowed the sin of the eye to become the sin of the flesh as her sent for her, had her brought to him while her husband was away at the war, and became immorally intimate with her.
He brought Uriah home from the war to have him spend time with his wife to have Uriah be seen to be the father of the child David had conceived. After failing to convince Uriah to spend time with his wife, even after plying him with wine, David sends Uriah back to the war carrying David's order to place him at the battle front of intense fighting to assure his death.
After Uriah was killed, brought back to be buried, and was mourned by his widow, David married Bathsheba. There is NO scriptural lesson of any mourning by David for this brave warrior he had sent to death intentionally.
David was sure he had well covered up the episode and his sin.
But verse 27 of chapter 11 teaches us the truth of the result of David's sin. " ... But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord".
While David thought he was finished with this issue, God was not. David's cover up of his transgression compounded his sin. Sin bred more sin, and David did NOT confess nor repent at this time.
David's sin was not to be without consequence. God sent Nathan the prophet to warn David by parable of how serious was his sin. The child that was born of this immoral act was taken by the Lord's command that it would die. Uriah was 'killed, as were many .others by David's command to Joab to attack. Joab reminded the king of this matter as well as called Uriah "your servant" to David.
While David may not have intended these consequences, they were -all a result of his sin and commands to cover up his sin.
So from this example given us what are the lessons we may learn from it so that we ourselves, living in a modern world with perhaps °far greater access to such temptations, can avoid this type.of sinful failing?
1. Sin can be a gradual slope:
One small sin can lead us into many more much larger sins. Satan plants the hook and then plays us on his line until he pulls us in to himself.
We must flee the sin of the eye, and not allow it to take us down the slippery slope of the sin of the flesh. While we are "in the world" we are not to be "of the world".
2. Lust stalks us every day:
Almost every commercial, ad, and most other forms of advertising appeal to the flesh. Stop watching !
3. Be careful what we allow our children to watch:
They are being formed for life. TV & movies are consistently making sex without marriage "normal" and convincing our youth that deviant sex is acceptable. Be careful what they watch ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
4. Be a friend of God & enemy of the world:
James 4:7-10 gives us three instructions to follow if we wish to avoid yielding:
(1) Submit to God-unconditional surrender to the Lord to lead our life is the only path to victory over this area of sinful living.
(2) Draw near to God-Full confession & full repentance bring a clean spirit. Then we must use his word as our shield just as Jesus did in the wilderness.
(3) Humble ourselves -We cannot submit outwardly and not submit inwardly by humility toward the Lord. The heart must be broken & contrite toward the Lord (PS 51: 17).
David no longer walked in the light of God, but had cursed himself into darkness which is the result of sin without repentance. He was no longer fearlessly righteous. His palace was now a wasteland as was his heart.
His bliss of living under the Lord's hand was gone. The nourishment of the blessing of the Lord, so abundant before, was now withdrawn.
David had hidden his sin, and now was struggling with the desolation he himself had purchased and his new possession owned him completely.
Later his next son, Solomon, would write the truth of these times in Proverbs 28:13:
"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy".
So David did as he should. He once more turned his heart to God, he placed himself humbly before the Lord, confessed his sins in full, repented of those sins completely, and begged the forgiveness of God. Here once more we see again why the Lord said that David was a man after His own heart. While imperfect, David became convinced of his sins, and asked the Lord to both cleanse him and to restore him injoy in the sight of the Lord.
We are blessed to have the exact words David spoke in these moments.
Let's look together at David's words: Psalms 51 & 32. These teach us of the full repentance & confession of David and more importantly of the blessedness of forgiveness that comes as a result.
The title of our study book best describes David now:
THE RESTORATION OF A SINNER