See Also

Archive

About the Author

    It was in the springtime when David — the king God chose as a man after his own heart — let his sexual passion overpower his moral compass. David slept with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his best soldiers. When Bathsheba discovered she was pregnant, David tried to cover his sin and avoid scandal. After nothing else worked, he ultimately arranged for Uriah to die in battle. David then took Bathsheba into the palace and made her his wife. David had concealed his sin, but not from God.

God be merciful to me because you are loving. Because you are always ready to be merciful, wipe out all my wrongs. Wash away all my guilt and make me clean again. I know about my wrongs, and I can’t forget my sin. You are the only one I have sinned against; I have done what you say is wrong. You are right when you speak and fair when you judge.... You are not pleased by sacrifices, or I would give them. You don’t want burnt offerings. The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit. God, you will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for sin. PSALM 51:1-17

    The prophet Nathan confronted David, and in a remarkable example of remorse, David repented and confessed his sin against God. Although God forgave him and continued to love him, he didn’t spare David the consequences of his sin, which would affect his family the rest of his life. This child of David and Bathsheba died within a week. Later, three of David’s sons would die violently. One of them — Absalom — killed his older brother, rebelled against his father, and tried to usurp the throne. To keep from fighting his own son, David retreated from Jerusalem and lived east of the Jordan. In the power-hungry son’s final battle with his father’s soldiers, Absalom’s forces were scattered, and while Absalom was riding through the woods trying to escape, his hair got caught in the branches of an oak tree and he died there.

    Although David was far from a perfect king, during his reign the kingdom prospered, its enemies were defeated and its borders extended. God had promised David that his family and his kingdom would continue forever. His reign became a standard by which later kings would be judged. When David was old and about to die, he appointed his son Solomon to be king after him and charged him to be faithful to his God. Shortly afterward, the singer of Israel, the shepherd of Bethlehem, the warrior king, the man after God’s own heart, died, and all of Israel mourned.

Reflection: One of the most amazing characteristics of God is his desire to restore our relationship with him through brokenness. When one of his own returns to him broken in spirit, God forgives and repairs, often making his child stronger than before. And in repentance comes a deeper relationship with the Father, possibly closer than at any other time in our lives.