IN ORDER…DOING RIGHT WITH MY WRONG

2 SAMUEL 11-12; I CHRONICLES 20

MAY 13th 

This is a dark chapter in the life of David whom God describes as “a man after my own heart”.

I Samuel 11.2-5 2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”4Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. 5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”

If David knew that his pursuit of a one night stand would directly or indirectly result in:

    - An unwanted pregnancy

    - The murder of a trusted friend (Bathsheba’s husband)

    - A dead baby (from the adultery)

    - His daughter raped by his son 

    - One son murdered by another son

    - A civil war led by one of his sons

    - A son who imitates David's unchecked passion and it leads him and much of Israel         away from God……

I am sure he would have resisted the temptation and avoided the guilt, sorrow, shame and years of unwanted consequences that plagued his family. Perhaps we all have chapters in our lives like David’s that we wish would have never happened. If we had the foresight to see the pain and consequences we may have chosen more wisely.

What I find encouraging is that years after David’s death God is dealing with a wicked king by the name of Jeroboam. Listen to the comparison God makes between Jeroboam and David.

I Kings 14:8  Yet you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only that which was right in My sight;

What? David who had the affair with Bathsheba, killed her husband, took her for his wife and acted like nothing was wrong??? God says he did only right in his sight? How can that be?

David did right with his wrong.

I Samuel 12.13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. 

When convicted David did right with his wrong. He confessed his sin and was cleansed of his sin by God thus doing what was right in the sight of God with the wrong he had done in the sight of God.

Maybe you think that you have done something so terrible that you are beyond the grace and forgiveness of God. That is a lie and the enemy is trying to keep you from doing right with your wrong. Become like David and follow God with all of your heart even when you sin by doing right with your wrong.

“Heavenly Father, today I desire to do right with the wrong I have done. I confess to you the sin which has held me in it’s grip far too long causing consequences I can no longer live under. Thank you for your restoration and allowing me to follow you with all of my heart.”