Fridays with David

Read 2 Samuel 12:7-12 – Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’” (NKJV)

David is caught. After several months of sidestepping his actions toward Bathsheba and Uriah, David is confronted with his sin by the prophet, Nathan. In one moment, David’s actions are exposed and God’s judgment is pronounced. So, David suddenly moves from his comfortable life to the realization that God will bring judgment on his life and his kingdom. Not a good day… It makes you wonder what David had been feeling the day before Nathan visited. Did he think he had no reason to fear consequences for his sin? Did he think he had gotten away with his adultery and murder? Did he think it didn’t matter anymore? The prophet tells him that what he had done “secretly” wasn’t as secret as he had imagined, and now God would respond publicly, and that response would affect more than just David. Don’t think that unrighteous choices are easily discarded. Unless we confess and turn from our sin, the righteous God we serve will demand a response. He cannot and will not allow our secrets to linger forever. By His love and righteousness, He will bring the hidden things to the surface if we refuse to expose them to His light ourselves.

– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.