GOD PUNISHES; GOD FORGIVES
Opening Prayer
Lord, we stand in awe of Your perfect impartiality.
Read 2 SAMUEL 12:1–25
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” (Psa. 130:3).
As English politician and historian Lord Acton put it, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The kings of the nations were absolute monarchs—but not this king. He was accountable to the “Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid” (“Collect for Purity,” Book of Common Prayer, 1662).
Having successively broken the tenth, seventh and sixth commandments by coveting his neighbor’s wife, committing adultery and then murder, who knows what David might do next? The prophet, tasked with speaking truth to someone so powerful, has his work cut out for him. Like Jesus was to do again and again, Nathan finds his words in a proverb; and the king unwittingly convicts himself.
God punishes sin. From the first book of the Bible to the last, the pattern is unmistakable. And this is no exception, as God plays no favorites. He pronounces judgment on David, beginning with the death of the child born of adultery. No, God cannot be softened up with our tears, fasting or praying (16,17). When we repent, however, he does relent; and David does repent (13). The record of this repentance is preserved for us in Psalm 51. When God forgives, he also cleanses. If someone steals from me but truly confesses, I may forgive him. Each time I see him, however, I see a thief: I will be careful never to leave my belongings where he could get his thieving hands on them. Not so, God. He not only forgives but he also forgets. Unlike we humans, God has the capacity to forget all about the sin he has forgiven. That is why David, in spite of all his sins, can still be called a man after God’s own heart (cf. 1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22) and remembered as one who had done right in the eyes of the Lord (cf. 1 Kings 15:11; 2 Kings 14:3; 16:2; 18:3).
Apply
Meditate on Psalm 51 and make it your prayer inasmuch as it applies to you.
Closing prayer
Lord, deal with me not according to what I deserve but according to Your grace and mercy.
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