Getting Back On Track Pt. 3 How Do I Come Back

Getting Back On Tack: How Do I Come Back

2 Samuel 12:1-31 John 21:15-25 7/15/2012 Calvary

Have you ever tried to fix something or a situation, and the more time you spent trying to fix it the worse it became? We’re going to look at why fixing stuff our way does not always work. We are in the third part of our series, “Getting Back On Track”. Pastor Toby did part 1 with “What’s Got My Eye”, Pastor Kellie did part 2 with “How Did I Mess Up”, and I will be doing part 3 with “How Do I Come Back.” Pastor Toby will return with the final message, “What Is My Purpose.”

One of the most interesting people in the Bible is a man by the name of David. The label that sticks to him from the Bible is a “a man after God’s own heart.” David as a very young man was specifically chosen by God to be the second king of Israel. Although he was the youngest of eight sons, God chose him because he had examined David’s heart. David was anointed by God, and as a young man who had never fought in battle before, he volunteered to fight a veteran enemy soldier who stood over nine feet tall. The soldier was Goliath who terrorized the entire army of Israel. With God on his side, David defeated this soldier who came at him with a sword and spear while David had five stones and a slingshot.

David’s success over Goliath led him to the top of the king’s army. David knew victory after victory in battles. The king eventually became jealous of David and tried to kill David. But through some very difficult times while being pursued by the King, David stayed faithful to God. Eventually the king was killed and David became king in his place. Everywhere David turned, he was granted military victories by God. His kingdom continued to expand. The people loved their king and he was as about as popular as a king could be in the heart of his people.

But then one day when the king should have been out in battle with his troops, he stayed home. That night he saw a married woman taking a bath while looking down from his palace rooftop. It was something that caught his eye. Next thing he knew, he had sent for this woman named Bathsheba and had sex with her for just a one night stand. He probably quietly confessed his sin to God and thought nothing more of it, until she sent a note a few months later indicating that she was pregnant. There was no need for any DNA testing. It had to be David’s child, because her husband, Uriah, one of David’s most trusted men, had been away fighting the king’s battle.

David tried fixing this little problem by having Uriah sent home from the army to have some rest and relaxation with his wife, so that he could pass the pregnancy off on Uriah as being the father. Uriah came from battle, but would not go home to have sex with his wife. David tried getting him drunk in hopes that would cause Uriah to go home to be with his wife. Uriah did not go home again. What on earth could David do now? What would a man after God’s own heart do when he gets off track? He will do things unthinkable. Have you ever had some unthinkable thoughts of what you might do in a situation? That should cause us to be more compassionate to those in our midst who have gotten off track.

Instead of confession that would lead to embarrassment and a possible scandal in the palace, David goes even further off track. So David sends a note by Uriah to the officer Joab instructing Joab, to “put Uriah in the thickest part of the battle, and then leave him there so that the enemy could strike him down.” Uriah was such a faithful servant of David that he is listed among David’s top 37 men in the entire army. David’s attempt to fix the problem went from deception to murder of a man who trusted him fully. All David had originally planned for was a ½ night stand. Sometimes we can’t plan to get off track just a little bit because we don’t know when all of a sudden the tracks drop off into a steep dive, taking us much further and faster than we had hoped to go.

After Uriah had been killed, to show his appreciation for this warrior who would have gladly given his life for his king, David sends for Bathsheba to come and be his wife, and he will raise the child as his own. To some people, David seemed like the most honorable of men. Who would marry a pregnant woman as the king had done, when he could have had any beautiful woman as his wife? That one look that had caught his eye, had led David to put his life in a mess. How does one go from being a man after God’s own heart, to an adulterer, and on to a murderer? He thought he could get back on track with God by keeping this whole thing a secret.