2 Samuel 12

David sinned a horrible sin. The consequences of his sin were given by the prophet Nathan in verses 7-14. They are summed up in this phrase, “Thus says the Lord, I will raise up evil against you from your own household.” Incurring evil from One’s enemies is bad enough. Incurring evil against you from your own family is doubly heart-wrenching. I’m going to be honest with you, as I hope I always am; I’m not looking forward to chapter 13 and following. I’ve read them in the past but I have never dealt with them in the way I now deal with Bible passages during my devotional time. These coming chapters chronicle the evil of David’s family because of his sin. What is before us in these chapters is rape, treachery, rebellion, revenge, grief and regret. Now there’s a recipe for rich devotional reading!

Honest reflection of difficult Bible passages

So, if you want to take a few weeks off from my devotions, I wouldn’t blame you. But, as you know, this is why I go through Bible books, chapter by chapter, rather than pick and choose only my favorites passages. It forces me to deal with the whole Word of God. I’ve hid from these chapters for 58 years so I guess now is the time to deal with them and allow God to deal with my heart accordingly. But before we get to the consequences of sin, we are going to deal with the heart of David immediately after he was confronted by Nathan. Even though there will be consequences, God has withheld condemnation. This truth is summarized in verse 13. After hearing about the earthly consequences, Nathan says to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.” NO CONDEMNATION! What is in David’s heart after he is confronted by Nathan? Fortunately for us, it is revealed in Psalms 51. We need to feed our souls on Psalms 51 before we take on the consequences as outlined in 2 Samuel 13 and following. More on that next time.

For today, I’ll close with an Easter post that relates to the fullness of God’s forgiveness from a dear friend, Lester Odachowski:

In what feels like a very complicated and complex world, I’m so thankful that God decided to make gaining life with Him free of complexity and complications.   In all of His mystery and even in the depths of His unfathomable spirit, He remains reachable through something as simple and straightforward as believing that He is, and that He offers us eternal life through faith in His son Jesus.  What feels exclusive is actually all inclusive…His offer is for ALL.  Today I ponder the thought that no one ever has to be good enough to enter heaven…no one ever could.   But Jesus did it for me.  How brilliant and kind is God? To do for us what was impossible for us to do for ourselves.  A beautiful, deep, profound, simple answer to my complex and complicated problem of imperfection.  He died, and He is Risen. Hallelujah! His love overwhelms me.