Some days are just a psalm kind of day…
How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?
….Cleanse me from these hidden faults.
Keep your servant from deliberate sins!
….Don’t let them control me.
Then I will be free of guilt
….and innocent of great sin. Psalm 19:12-13 (NLT)
What would you think about the leader of a country who without hesitation yielded to his lustful desires? It was probably not a mutual affair. He already had several women at his beck and call, but because his residence towered above the city, a beautiful young woman caught his eye as she bathed. He quickly found out who she was and even though she was the wife of one of his most devoted men in arms, he had her brought to him…and he slept with her.
As destiny would have it, she became pregnant. He had her husband brought home from the front, as a war was in progress. He asked of the campaign and sent the man home to be with his wife. The leader thought for sure the solider would spend the night in his wife’s embrace…problem solved. But no, his man in arms was more noble than he.
The next night the leader purposely enticed this virtuous man to drink heavily and sent him home once more. Even in an inebriated state, he did not go home to sleep with his wife. His fellow soldiers were encamped on the fields of battle. He could not bring himself to do such a dishonorable thing!
Twice thwarted, the leader knew it was just a matter of time before he was found out. He moved quickly. He sent him back to where the battle raged, but in his own hand was a message for the commander over the troops. And unbeknownst to this valiant warrior, the message was his note of execution.
The commander obeyed his orders and placed the soldier in the heat of battle only to pull all support from around him so that in his exposure he was cut down in his prime, along with several of his comrades.
When word of his demise reached the leader, he quickly took in his widow after she had mourned the death of her husband in battle. And she became his wife. Problem solved…right?
It was stated in another setting but the words of Numbers 32:23 rang true,
…behold, you will have sinned against the Lord; and be sure that your sin will find you out. (AMP)
You probably figured it out already, but the adulterous, murdering leader was King David himself. The man that God had referred to as “a man after his own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14 NLT) was found severely wanting in the sight of God. He had broken God’s heart by his evil acts.
David sought out God’s forgiveness and it was granted but the repercussions of his sin followed him the rest of life. All because he would not avert his eyes in that time of temptation.
The psalm at the very beginning? David wrote that. And even though he committed such egregious acts, we still have a soft place in our hearts for this man lead astray by the pull of his own flesh.
And why would that be? How could we feel the way we do about a man such as he? Could it be that we readily see ourselves in him? Don’t we feel the same way about Peter, Jesus’ disciple of denial?
There is not a man or woman in the entirety of humanity that can claim perfection…save One. Some may merely stumble but all of us at one time (or many, as the case may be) do a faceplant firmly onto terra firma. We fall…and we fall hard. We can relate to David. We empathize with Peter. Because they…are us.
And as He did for them, Jesus extends His hands – his nail-scarred hands – to lift us up from our self-imposed fallenness. His love conquers our weakness. The pride may be gone from our visage, but we can stand tall in His presence, for He – our Lord and our Savior – would have it no other way. All praise to Him…
July 7th, 2020, Tues, 8:08 pm
