Many know the story of David’s great mistake. How at a time he should have been at war, he saw the wife of one of his friends on top of a roof, and decided to sleep with her, and kill her husband. And because of the position as king, that God gave him, he was able to do just that without any consequences in the natural. Definitely not David’s finest hour. This story has been used in many sermons to point out the sin of adultery, but today I want you to dig a little deeper, not into the what he did, but the why. The grievous error that David made that day was not the sin of adultery, it was his heart behind the sin of adultery. Adultery was the manifestation of a heart issue. Before we dive into what the issue was, I think it would be helpful to take a step back and look at where David came from.
What a lot of people forget about David is how he got started. David was never alone with his sheep. He was singing songs to the Lord, creating psalms and poems aimed out of a heart full of love towards God. David was a man after God’s own heart far before he ever became king. You see in his isolation away from war, from people, it was a time where David’s perspective was allowed to foster a reality of faith in God that was untainted by the unbelief of his society. To foster a love that was unhindered by fear. Instead of complaining about his degrading positions to watch the sheep even while his brothers went to war, he was too busy thanking and praising God. An intimate relationship was born between Creator and creation, and someday, far after his time on the earth would be over, Father and son.
Much like Enoch, David did not have a guideline for talking to God. He just decided that God could hear him, and he praised and worshiped Him daily. This is before Jesus, before the modern-day bible, and to top it all off, he is just a kid in his early teens. Yet he delighted himself in the Lord and gave thanks to Him. He didn’t have it all figured out, but he figured out that God was a good God, and he would show Him the love and the honor that was due to Him. He had a pure heart, a heart of honor, a heart after God’s own heart.
This is amazing to me; however, this is David making a good situation out of what most would consider a horrible situation. David was just a shepherd boy! It had all the appeal and clout of a modern-day janitor. Nothing wrong with being one, but not exactly what people dream and aspire to be. David had no reputation, no one knew who he was except his family, and his father thought so little of him that when the prophet of God came to his house, because God told the prophet that one of the sons of Jesse (David’s father) was the next king, Jesse didn’t even tell David nor show David to the prophet. David’s own family didn’t even back him, or believe in him. Yet, God took him from being a shepherd and turned him into a king! It’s like making a janitor into the president! Through his journey to becoming king, God had protected David from an entire kingdom ruled by a jealous king that was out for his life. Then He gave him all the pleasures and luxuries that the previous king had, then increased his land, and his influence as king. God made David famous, rich, and healthy. And David throughout all of it gave honor and praise to God, never letting his passion that he kindled as a shepherd boy dim.
However, some time while being king, little by little, he started enjoying his position a little bit more then the person who gave him it, he started depending a little bit more on his ability to take care of the kingdom instead of God’s, and finally he started spending more time serving himself instead of serving God. Thus at a time when he should have been out serving his God in war, he was enjoy the pleasures of his position, and serving himself instead of God. And you know the rest of the story, he sleeps with Bathsheba, and kills her husband Uriah. It’s interesting that he bothered trying to hide it. The fact that he tried to hide it shows you how far his respect and honor for God had fallen. Before he did everything with the knowledge that the Lord saw him, but now he’s acting as if God couldn’t see what he was up to. God wasn’t even a thought…. this is the sin greater than the act of adultery, it was a sin of betrayal. So of course, God witnessed his beloved David commit those heinous crimes, and all because he lost sight of God, his first love. So God sent His prophet to relay His message to David, not a message born out of anger and wrath for David, but a message from a dear friend or father whose been hurt. This is what He said:
“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king of Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added that much again.”
-2 Samuel 12:7(b)-8
Murder and adultery are serious crimes by anyone’s standard, but God’s response to David shows you what caused such disappointment to God. It was the heart behind the offense, it was David delighting himself in perversion instead of God. It was dishonor. And I can hear God, with pain in his heart say….
“I made you king, I gave you the kingdom, I protected you, I gave you influence, wealth, and fame, and if that would not have been enough all you had to do was ask and I would have done that much more for you. Why? Why did you not ask me for what you wanted? I would have given it to you….”
David’s mistake was not a sin against an indifferent God, it was a betrayal of a most beloved friend, and for us, father. David went through a rough patch in his life due to this, he didn’t have the grace we do to fall back on. And later on he does get back to God, but this story, the story of David’s rise and betrayal has so much more for us to glean from than simply, don’t commit adultery and murder. This story, stripped of all its religion, can be seen for the love story that it really is, and it gives us insight into the heart of God.
David’s life really puts things into perspective for us. Don’t walk away from this story without feeling something, let yourself be touched by it, and allow God to speak to you right where you are at. And though there are so many other things we can take away from this story, there are two things involving relationship I hope you get above all else. Our relationship with God, and God’s relationship with us.
If you are like me, the first time I read this story through the eyes of a son of God, through the eyes of relationship instead of through a religious mindset, you can’t help but admire David for his heart, aspire to be just like him. David created new songs, and new poems, and new ways to express his worship towards God. He didn’t get angry at God because he was in an unflattering situation, without a friend in sight. He didn’t blame God for his misfortunes. Instead he filled his time giving God thanks for what he did have and showed God all the love and honor he could muster. David had more love and respect for God than most modern-day Christians, and he was under an old covenant, the highest position he could hope for was a servant in the house of the Lord, while we are granted the title of son! We can become far more intimate than David did, we can sing songs out of a heart of pure love, with no sin, or shame holding us back! We can foster a relationship so close to God that we can enjoy His presence, and walk through life side by side.
We should all want to act like David did, to desire, to value, and honor God as David did. To cultivate a relationship with God as David did. Regardless of what we are doing at work, or in the car, or at home, we can have a song in our heart for not just our Master, not just our God, but also our dear Father.
I also love how God treated David. God will be as much as, or as little as apart of your life as you let Him. And we see the result of a boy who desired God above all else, and looked to him for promotion, not the system of the world. We see God take a boy with no training who
works a minimum wage job for his family, and put him as king of a nation! We see someone with a lesser covenant with God receive wealth, receive a powerful position, and health enough to kill a giant as a teenager! And when we desire God more than any material things, we see the heart of God towards our success when he says “and if that had been too little, I would have added that much again.” He wants His children to be taken care of, but so many of us chase after the stuff instead of Him that we never are able to actually receive God’s goodness. This story tells us all too well about His heart towards us! We should all have a smile that isn’t weighted with worry, anxiety, or fear regarding the future. We should all rejoice, and fill our days with thanksgiving as David did, because we understand far better then he does, just how good our Father God is!
I pray that this impacted you as much as it did me. I love you, and I’m praying for all my readers, that they would connect with God and enjoy His presence in their lives as I have.
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