Faith Builder Friday

2 Samuel 12 - In this passage Nathan, the prophet, was sent to tell David the story of the rich man taking the poor man's sheep and killing it. David said such a man should die and repay 4 lambs for the stolen lamb. Then Nathan told David "You are that man!" The Lord gave a stern word and 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. But you have given the enemies of the Lord great opportunity to despise and blaspheme him, so your child will die."

David's sin was that he slept with Bathsheba while her husband was fighting at war. She became pregnant and David tried to cover his sin by having her husband brought home so they would sleep together. Her husband, not knowing what was going on, refused to sleep with his wife while his peers were at battle. He felt it would not be right for him to do so. Since David's plan to 'cover' his mistake failed, he then had her husband put on the front line of battle so that he would die. The story Nathan shared about the sheep was a parable God gave for David. It was to open David's eyes to the truth of his sin. Before Nathan told the story David had no pity for his sin.

How often do we err and then justify our err - or bust our tail trying to 'cover' our err. When all along we should humble ourselves and repent. That is all God wants from us. A humble heart that says 'I got it wrong! I messed up BIG time - please forgive me and show me how I can make this right!' Often times, we can do nothing to make it right. We can always repent but that does not mean we err without consequences.

Most of the time our consequences are such that we cannot stop them. We must come to terms with the fact that WE chose this path or this err - not God. Since WE chose the err, we chose the consequences. As a result of David's err, God took his son. While his son lived - David fasted and prayed for God to change His mind. David prayed hoping that his heart's cry would move God to allow his son to live. His son died, David got up - got dressed - ate and went to the Tabernacle to worship God. He did not hold a grudge against God for his pain or his consequence. He tried EVERYTHING in his power to move the heavens but when it was over - David knew he had caused his own pain - no one else.

He took responsibility for his choices. So many times we goof - we mess up in a GINORMOUS way and we are quick to want God to fix our mess. Such a natural response! The truth is there are things we cannot undo! There are waves of consequences we must face head on! We must stop blaming God when He doesn't swoop in and take a magic eraser to everything! We cannot wish it away or imagine it away. All that does is distract from the heart of the matter - our heart! When we are fighting and struggling and aching for God to give us a do-over then we are not truly giving the matter to God. There is a season for prayer, but like David - we must come to the place where we KNOW that if God does not intervene He is still on the throne and He still loves us and He still wants the best for us.

One thing that really stood out to me is in verse 13-14, when Nathan replied "Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won't die for this sin. But you have given the enemies of the Lord great opportunity to despise him, so your child will die."

God quickly forgave - that part was done! But David had now given ammunition to the enemies of the Lord. Often times, the ripple effect of our mistake is immeasurable. We cannot focus on that because it could drive us insane. Think of the highly esteemed men of God who have given ammunition to the enemies of the Lord. The minute they slip and fall - many non-believers are quick to rub the disgrace in the faces of any and every Christian. It delights the enemies of the Lord to see a Christian fall on their face. Especially when they do as David did in this scenario.

#1 David was arrogant - he saw Bathsheba and he wanted her so he took her.

#2 He saw the consequence of his err - he freaked out and tried to save HIS (David's) own reputation by covering for himself.

#3 Bathsheba's husband had too much integrity to lay with his wife when he knew he should have been fighting with his men.

#4 David freaked out again and tried to cover his reputation by KILLING an innocent man.

David was giving the enemies of the Lord GREAT opportunity to despise him. It is so hard to look at this and not blame God. But God is One who does not control us - we all have a will and we all have the choice to act in lust, in fear or in love. When we choose to let our fear lead us we get into a mess of trouble. There are times the consequences are immeasurable to the kingdom of God. But once we are forgiven (and God is so gracious that He is QUICK to forgive)- we must get cleaned up - get dressed and worship God as David did! He didn't let shame rule his life either. David begged God to change His mind until there was no more that he could do. When the consequence arrived - David accepted it and worshipped God. It was over and done.

When the consequence does come our way, we have to accept it and not let the regret and shame dominate our life either! To move past that phase is definitely a gift from God!