Much has been written and many sermons have been preached about King David, and specifically about his one big sin. But what about the long term ramifications of sin? Are there lessons that we can learn beyond the obvious? Can what happened to David give us guidance for our own lives?
The answer is YES! And this 15 part series of devotionals will be dedicated to looking at what we can learn from this incident. Let’s begin today by taking an overview of the story and of David’s life “after” Bathsheba:
Prior to Bathsheba, David’s life was exemplary. Here we find a young man filled with God’s Spirit, a young man who isn’t afraid to step up to the plate, to face a giant, to let God fight through him, and to save his nation. As we follow David’s life, he continues, despite exceptional adversity, to live for the Lord. We see David spending years of his life fleeing from the jealousy of King Soul. We see him leaving behind family, his wife, his best friend, a great life, and hiding in caves, living on the run, even crossing the border into enemy territory to get away from his adversary. But at the end of David’s “wilderness” experience, we see him exalted as king of all Israel.
At this point in Israel’s history, we see a rise to glory for God’s nation. We see the Philistines and all of Israel’s other adversaries, including their enemies of old, all being forced to submit to David’s hand. We see giants being killed. We see the construction of Jerusalem, the crowning city of God’s people. Everything is “looking good”, as we would say.
Until that one day. That one day when David let his curiosity get the better of him.
David happens to notice a beautiful woman bathing on her rooftop: “Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, ‘Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?'” (2 Sam 11: 2,3)
Now David has hundreds of wives and concubines of his own. His harem is definitely NOT lacking in beautiful women. But he is curious about this ONE woman, this FORBIDDEN woman, this MARRIED woman. He allows his curiosity and his lust to overtake his better sense: “Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, ‘I am with child.'” (2 Sam 11:4,5).
Now all of this was bad enough, but it gets worse. David then tries to cover his sin by bringing her husband home from battle. But when his devious plan doesn’t work, he resorts to murder. In the end, David is punished for his grave sin and the child dies. David repents. He learns his lesson.
Unfortunately for David, this is NOT the end of the story. If it were, we could call it a simple story about how sin always leads to punishment. But if we continue to read through the rest of the book of second Samuel, we see a rapid decline in Israel’s history, and especially, in David’s personal glory. We see his firstborn son, Amnon, raping his daughter, Tamar. We see how Tamar’s brother, Absalom, resorts to murder, then deviancy, and finally he tries to usurp his father’s throne. And initially, he appears to succeed! David flees Jerusalem! There is a bloody battle! Absalom is killed!
Okay, that’s enough bad things! Now David can return to Jerusalem, right?
But no, it doesn’t end here. If you continue to read, you soon discover that various tribes of Israel then try to break away, and there are other usurpers to David’s throne. And in the end, even the succession of the next king was marked with blood when David’s son, Adonijah tries to seize the throne from his brother, Solomon, who, anointed by God, was appointed to succeed David.
So what lesson can this brief overview of David’s life after his fall teach us today?
There are grave consequences to our sin, friends! Yes, God does forgive us! He DOES look at us as if we have never sinned, but He cannot “undo” the consequences of our sin!
Modern history records many similar stories. We were once a part of a mushrooming church and world-wide ministry. Shortly after we began attending this church, the pastor “fell”. He had an affair with one of his associate pastors. After this the church split and never regrew to its former glory. The world-wide ministry was no longer as affective. Church financial support dropped off, and the list goes on.
Now it could be said that the dire results of these sins were rooted in the fact that these men held such influential positions. And since most of us are likely not kings, and probably only a few are pastors, maybe we don’t need to heed this warning! But no matter how lofty or lowly our position, every one of us is in a place where our example is crucial. Let’s remember this as we go through each moment of each day. Let’s remember to keep ourselves free of sin so that God’s will can truly be done in our lives and in the lives of those around us!
Please join us next Saturday for LESSONS FROM DAVID’S FALL, Part 2: The Baby Dies.
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, www.scripturalnuggets.org, with Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org.
(To access the entire “Lessons From David’s Fall” mini-series, please click here.)