2 Samuel 11
After Saul’s Death and David’s inheritance of the Kingship, things have been going well for David. God has given him favor, and even promised that through David’s line, a new kingdom of God’s enduring love will be established (ch. 7). David must have felt so close to God.
In the story of the Bible up to this point, nearly every person called and appointed by God has had a failure moment. Yet so far, David’s humility and servanthood has set him apart from Saul and most of the judges who came before him. This tension has built throughout David’s story, and is brought to a culmination in this chapter. He had the opportunity to remain aligned with God’s way, but instead chose lust, manipulation, and power.
He could’ve stepped away from the window, but he let His lust lead him to sin.
He could’ve owned up to what he did and apologized to Bathsheba and Uriah, but instead he used his leadership position to manipulate Uriah by getting him drunk.
He could’ve honored Bathsheba by not causing her to marry the person who wronged and enabled her, but instead used his power to send Uriah to death so he could get what he wanted.
How could David, the “man after God’s own heart,” mess up this badly? Before we are too hard on him, let us remember that all of us have fallen short of the glory and holiness of God. Even folks who have followed Jesus for years have been lured and enticed by lust, control, and power. Because Jesus has reconciled us to God, we are close to God. Yet, all of us have given into the desires of our flesh and failed to honor Him. Yes, David sinned egregiously. There is no excusing his actions. But he was only human, too.
David won’t be able to change his past decisions. All he has control over now is how he responds. In the next few chapters, we will get to observe David’s response to his sin. Will he continue down this path of sexual exploitation and manipulation? Or will he come back to the ways of God? Will he own what he did? Or will he try to blame others for what he did?
Many of us are likely hung up on a few sinful decisions we’ve made. We let them roll around in our brains, and we replay the situation again and again. But like David, we can’t change the past. We can only control how we respond now. The good news is that we serve a God who desires to forgive us.
In Exodus 34:6-7, this is is how Yahweh describes himself:
6 And he [the Lord] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
The Hebrew word for “forgive” in this passage is “nāśā'.” This word connotes someone lifting, carrying, or bearing something. God wants to carry your sin. No, you can’t change what you did - but you can respond by letting God lift it off of you. It can be hard to believe that God will lift away your worst mistake. But God is so serious about it that he came to Earth, made friends with sinners, and then died for them. If you trust that Jesus did this for you, then allow Him to lift off that sin that you hold onto. He is eager to bear it.
