David’s Failure

A wrong view of God leads inevitably to a failure to enjoy and grow in His grace. Failure to appreciate His love, His kindness and generous heart leads eventually to a life which bears no fruit and makes no progress. The lesson is clear: if you would grow in grace, learn what grace is. Taste and see that the Lord is good (see I Peter 2:2).  Sinclair B. Ferguson

I love to read about David in the Bible.  He is one of the best examples of someone who failed over and over again, yet he was still loved by God.  If you study the life of David, he had quite a few large failures.  He started out so well with the whole David and Goliath thing.  He was brave, strong and he stood up for God when no one else would. God gave him the power to overcome Goliath.

 

David didn’t always make good decisions.  His choice to stay home and not go out to battle was the beginning of one of his worst failures.  Remember how David slept with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, and then found out Bathsheba was pregnant.  To cover up his sin, he sent Uriah, the man he planned to kill, with a letter to Joab telling him to put Uriah at the front of the battle and retreat from him so that he would be struck down and die.  That was pretty cold to hand the guy you plan to kill the very letter that contained the instructions for his death. 

The thing is there were consequences for David’s sin against Uriah.  In 2 Samuel 12:10-14 we find out David’s punishment for his sin.  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.’”So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” I can’t imagine the death of a child and that was part of the consequence David paid for his sin.

If I look back over my life, I have failed over and over again.  I failed tests in school and even a course in college.  I’ve failed friends, family members and some people I may not even realize I failed along the way.  The thing I have learned is that failure doesn’t have to be my epitaph.  I can be a different person and the person God calls me to be.  Failure doesn’t have to define who I am or where I am going.  It is a part of my life and I accept it as such.  Failure and its consequences are the refining process God uses to make me more like Him.

         

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have sinned and failed You in so many ways.  Sometimes it is hard for me to understand that You could forgive me.   Then I see Jesus and the sacrifice He made and I understand that You love me too, even in all my failings.  Thank you for redeeming me.  

Scripture:  Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:32-33