One of the most colorful people in the Bible is David. One of the first Bible stories that many children learn is about David as a boy and how he was able to slay the giant Goliath through the power of the Lord. I remember spending a lot of time looking at that picture in my Bible as I sat in church waiting for the sermon to be over.
That was one of David’s greatest moments. Later in his life David took a detour from his track of following the Lord. It was one of his weakest moments.
The Bible is about real people. It is about people who do noble things. And it is about people who do terrible things. Sometimes it is the same people who do noble things who also do the really terrible things. David defeated Goliath. David was defeated by Bathsheba.
David sent for Bathsheba after seeing her bathing on her roof. When the King calls you answer. When Bathsheba learned that she was pregnant David plotted to cover up what he had done. David had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah brought from the battlefield. But Uriah’s devotion to his King was greater than his devotion to his wife and he refuses to go to her. So David reassigned him to the front lines where he was killed.
Were David and Bathsheba able to experience forgiveness? Yes, but. There are consequences. God’s grace does not make us immune from the law of sowing and reaping. As someone has said, many want to sow our wild oats and then pray for a crop failure.
When we break the laws of God, we not only hurt ourselves, often we end up hurting others. One of the consequences of David and Bathsheba’s affair was that the child of their adultery did not live. One of the evidences of God’s grace and mercy is that after David repented and confessed his sin the second child of their union, Solomon built the temple David wanted to build but was not allowed to build.
The Bible is a collection of stories about God and God’s people. It does not cover up the worst and include only the best. The Bible tells the story of David and Goliath AND David and Bathsheba. It tells of people at their best and at their worst so that we can know that God’s grace is sufficient redeem us from our worst and use us to accomplish our best.
Joyful Life Lutheran Church 