Editor’s Note: This week we welcome guest blogger, Emily Marks. Emily is an adult and community educator. She and her husband Sean live in Lancaster, PA, with their dog Corvus. I learned so much from her sermon on 2 Samuel 11-12! I’m excited for you to read these blog posts.
In the dramatic story of 2 Samuel chapters eleven and twelve, David has committed monumental sins: Adultery, Lying, Murder. David scrambles to cover it up, using the power of his throne every step of the way. Just when it seemed that David had gotten away with it, God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David.
As we learned in the previous post, Nathan tells David a parable of a rich man who takes a poor man’s only lamb. David, not realizing that Nathan’s story is a parable, immediately becomes incensed, wanting to find the rich man and punish him. Nathan responds, “You are that man.” Then Nathan describes in detail all of David’s sins.
As further evidence of my earlier point, in his rebuke of David, God has only painted Bathsheba and Uriah as victims, not part of the problem.
But let’s continue reading: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
Indeed, at the conclusion of chapter 12, that is what happens. King David and Bathsheba’s child is born but does not survive. Later in chapter 12, Bathsheba will conceive again, and King David and Bathsheba will have a son named Solomon who the Lord finds favor with, but at this point in the story, they don’t know that that is going to happen.
I’m not going to pretend that I have everything figured out when it comes to God. It does not align with the general character of God that he would cause an innocent baby to suffer because of the sins of the child’s parents. So I have to be humble in this moment and admit that I don’t understand what God is doing here. I just don’t.
Here is what I do understand and what I think we as Christians would be wise to recognize from this story: when we sin, we surrender control of the outcome of a situation, and walking away from God’s plan is harmful.
David thought he had control, didn’t he? He thought he could cover one of his sins with another sin, and when that didn’t work, he committed the sin of murder. He smugly thought he got away with this when he invited Bathsheba into his home as his wife.
Sometimes we do the same thing: we think we can cover one lie or one sin with another and that we’ll get away with it. Maybe in the eyes of humans we will get away with it. But God knows. God knew what David did. And David and Bathsheba are going to enter one of the deepest hurts and points of mourning that a person can experience: the death of a child.
Again, I don’t understand what God is doing here, but I do understand that David lost control of this wagon the moment he decided to step outside of God’s plan. The moment he chose to pursue his temptation, he surrendered to the natural consequences of his choices.
This makes sense: we know that sometimes even when we do the right thing, the consequences can be nasty. And we also know that stepping outside of what the law or culture might say is right is not always the wrong thing to do: think of the civil rights movement, for example.
But stepping outside of God’s plan and the things God requests of us is never a good idea. While we don’t find a God pulling levers in heaven controlling our lives and spiting us for wrongdoing, there can be horrible consequences for our sins. Again, we don’t really see God being a god of strict rule-following and legalism, but a God who loves us, so we would do well to think of his commands and rules more as safeguards for us out of love. So then it shouldn’t surprise us that when we step outside some of the safeguards that God has put in place for us, there may be some unpleasant or dangerous consequences.
We should follow what God asks of us, not out of fear, but out of a recognition that this is what’s best for us. But David thought he knew better. And now we see him suffering the consequences.
I would encourage you to search deep.
Where do you need to repent because you think you know better than God? Where in your life do you think you’re hiding something from God? Because you aren’t. Where are we using authority in a way that doesn’t please God? What sinful actions have we taken and pacified or excused ourselves because we think we can blame someone else for tempting us? Where are you acting like the version of King David from this story and need to stop and turn so that you are once again a person after God’s own heart?
Photo by Ben Maguire on Unsplash
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