I wish I knew what it was that blinds even a faithful follower’s heart from the ways of God. David, a man after God’s own heart, walks faithfully most days and yet there are times he chooses a wrong path that makes one’s head scratch.
Counting the fighting men is one of those choices. His closest advisor is shouting in his ear “Don’t do it.” Yet, willfully, David overrules Joab’s counsel and dives headlong into his folly.
David’s sin with Bathsheba is more understandable; done in secret he had no wise counsel to steer him correctly in a time of weakness. However, in today’s reading David plows on into sin despite the voice of those he has trusted. What gripped him so tightly that he did this?
I do not know and if David can fall like this I must beware. I am vulnerable to similar lapses. I, too, am capable of great sin.
Oh, Lord God, protect me from my worst self. Take my heart and heal it from its wanton selfishness and sin…
Fortunately, the story does not end with David’s failure. David comes to his senses… Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing” (8).
I am touched by the fact that David came to this realization on his own. His heart was not dead. The Spirit of God coursing through his life brought internal understanding of what he needed to do. David confessed to the Lord…
Even in the darkest moments of sin, confession is the way out. David, like the prodigal son, has come to his senses and the Father is waiting there for him.
The Lord never turns a deaf ear to our cries of confession. What a gift confession is… what an amazing, wonderful, life-giving gift confession is!
Sin has consequences. I might be forgiven but sin also has natural consequences. In a rare instance David is given a choice of his consequences… wisely he falls into the hands of the Lord, where mercy is possible.
Stepping back, this sad tale reminds me about the depravity of the human heart –my human heart –and the wonder and gift of confession. Most weeks in worship we hear this promise: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9).
What a gift, what an amazing gift is our access to the Father and the forgiveness that is ours when we confess.
Lord, thank You for this reminder today. I love You… In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen
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