Year 1, Day 329: 2 Samuel 12

Nine Months

There is something to remember before we even begin to get involved with the story of Nathan and David.  It takes 9 months for a child to come to full term and to be delivered.  David had 9 months to come to terms with what he had done.  He had 9 months to confess his actions.  He had 9 months to acknowledge his sin and repent before the Lord.  But he does not.

Dealing with Sin

The child is born.  Nathan comes to David and confronts the sin.  Nathan comes to David and forces the confrontation.  Nathan knows that what David did has displeased the Lord and Nathan comes to David to make David see this fact.  Nathan doesn’t accept the character flaw in David just as we know God did not accept it in the last chapter.  But what we discover here is that sometimes we do not come to terms with our sin without the help of another person to confront us.  This is the role that Nathan plays with David.  Without Nathan, David likely would have continued in his deceitful ways to cover up what he had done.

However, while you might think that this is going to be a blog post condemning David, the rest of this blog post is actually going to speak quite highly about David.  Yes, everything that he did up until now was wrong.  But when David is confronted, David is fully repentant.  David understands that God has richly blessed him.  David understands that God would have legitimately given him more if he had went about it in a way that honored God.  David understands that what he has done is to steal from the one who has a humble existence while being in the midst of a lavish life already.  David’s sin may have started with sexual lust, but he now understands it to have blossomed into lust over possessions, greed, self-centeredness, and pride.  When confronted, he does not argue the charges.  Rather, David simply confesses that “he has sinned against the Lord.”

We should also see in this story that David’s repentance does not abolish the consequences.  David’s sin is out in the open.  The child dies.  Everyone will know what David has done.  Repentance does not remove the consequences, but it does remove the guilt.  David is forgiven, but as we shall see in the chapters to come his life will still be permanently altered by his choices.

This is an important thing to remember about God and life.  So many of us – me included from time to time – believe that when we repent things will go back to the way they were before the sin.  While sometimes this is possible, especially when the sin is small, the reality is that we don’t often get the chance to fully start over as if the sin never happened.  Sin alters relationships.  Sin changes things.  While we can be absolved of guilt through repentance we cannot run from the consequences.  God does not take us back in time to the moment of our poor decision.  Rather, God keeps us where we are in time and leads us through the process of repentance and dealing with our consequences.  Repentance is a “get out of jail (guilt) card,” but it is not a “get out of jail (consequences) card.”

So David mourns.  He weeps.  He fasts.  But the baby still dies.  Does this mean that God did not listen to David’s fasting and prayer?  No, rather it means that David’s sin brought about God’s judgment.  God forgives David, but the consequences remain.

David Moves On From Sin

But when the baby dies, David picks himself up and moves on.  I give David a ton of credit in this circumstance as well.  David has confessed the sin.   He has fasted.  The baby dies, and he doesn’t continue to beat himself up over it.  David moves on, consoles his wife, and she legitimately conceives a child.  David does not linger over the dead; David gives the dead to God and entrusts the baby to God’s care.  It sounds harsh, but it is really the godly way.  What can any of us do for the dead?  Can any of us bring them back?  No, God is the only one who can care for the dead.

Ammonites

This story ends with a military conquest.  We really have to understand the significance of this story with respect to 2 Samuel 11-12.  This whole story started with David living in luxury while his soldiers were away on the battlefield.  He had forgotten what God had done with him to get him where he was.  In his lapse of memory he came under temptation and fell into sin.  But now that he has confessed his sins, he remembers his place.  His place is not at home where his idle hands and idle eyes get him into trouble.  His place is leading the troops on the battlefield. 

His military campaign is successful. 

Part of repentance is not living in the past.  Part of repentance is changing our ways and returning to the ways of the Lord.  This is exactly what this battle story is all about.  As a part of David’s repentance, his behavior changes to what God desires for him to do in this world rather than focusing on what his flesh desires him to do.

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