Fairytales are so uplifting. Prince charming rescues the princes and of course they live happily ever after. A lot of traumatic things happened to the princes before prince charming rescued her. The fairytale ending whitewashes the harsh reality of the remaining scars. Everyone has struggles.
Yes, you were washed clean when you trusted in Christ, but you will still have struggles. There are still consequences from what was set in motion from wrong actions of the past. Those consequences do not automatically stop even when we have a new life in Christ. In fact, do not expect them to. Some scars will remain. They certainly did for King David.
2 Samuel 12:13 makes a tremendous statement. “The Lord has taken away your sin.” The Lord said this to King David after his sin with Bathsheba. That “sin” was really a long list of big sins; deception, lust, adultery, murder and cover up. Happily-ever-after is simplistic.
In real life you can’t just sweep sin under the carpet without consequences. This does not change the most wonderful truth of Grace. You really do have complete forgiveness in Christ when you put saving faith in Jesus no matter how big the sin.
Psalm 51 shows the beauty of David’s forgiveness. But it really does not end there. We can’t just say David arranged for Bathsheba’s husband to be killed then following the murder he married her but received forgiveness and then David and Bathsheba lived happily ever after.
Even with such incredible forgiveness David received wounds and from those wounds the scars remained. We find that out from 2 Samuel 12-18. These chapters tell us of the scars and consequences that remain from David’s sins even though God forgave him.
The more worldly your background the more subsequent turbulence in life you can expect to come. Yes, you are forgiven, but you better stay seated with your seat belt fastened. It may get rough. It sure got rough for King David. For David it was more like landing the plane without the landing gear than turbulence.
I want you to know what David set in motion from his sin with Bathsheba. It is the norm for the consequences of sin to play out. Not all problems are a result of sin and we don’t usually see such a one to one correlation between our past sin and our problems but, it is explicitly clear in King David’s case.
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.’” (2 Samuel 12:10-14).
The guilt before God of our sin is removed in Christ as far as the east is from the west. But David experienced some of the deepest suffering known to man. Some of his suffering was as severe as Jobs. It was the consequence of lust David did not control. Forgiveness yes but also scars remain too.
The child that David conceived will die because David did this deed. Not every child conceived in adultery dies. But David has given occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The child fell sick at birth. David fasted and lay on the ground all night. Seven days after the child was born, he died.
No one even wanted to tell David his son had died because they were afraid that David would harm himself when he heard the news. Verse 2 Samuel 12:23 tells us of David understanding of what happened when his son died. 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.”
Just think if David had just turned his eyes away when he first saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof top. If only he had just retreated to his chambers to write another beautiful Psalm of praise, he could have avoided unthinkable pain.
As the story of David moves to 2 Samuel chapter 13 the repercussions of David’s sin has taken root on his firstborn son Amnon who is in line to the throne. He burned with lust to the point of illness for his beautiful sister Tamar. Following in his father’s footsteps he succumbed to this lust rather than take it to the Lord.
Amnon acted on his desires and lied and schemed to rape his sister. As soon as he raped her the “love” which was actually lust turned to hate (2 Samuel 13:15). He held an intense hatred for his sister.
Absalom was rightly outraged. Amnon caused his sister to live out her life a desolate woman. David himself was furious. One by one the prophesies that Nathan spoke after David sinned began to unfold. The child died, calamity came, and the sword will never depart from your house. Absalom waited two years for the right time to avenge his sister’s disgrace. He waited until his brother was drunk and had him struck down and killed.
The death of a son days after he was born, his daughter violated and desolate, one son murders another. Could the depth of agony for David and the killing get any worse? Yes! It will get much worse for King David. Absalom set himself up as king in Hebron. This was the place of David’s original rule. Absalom stole the hearts of the people.
Then Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron.’” 11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem had accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and went quite innocently, knowing nothing about the matter. 12 While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he also sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from Giloh, his hometown. And so the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept on increasing. (2 Samuel 15:10-12)
David the great king of Jerusalem fled for his life and lived as a fugitive like when King Saul pursued him. In 2 Samuel 16:5-14 David is cursed and pelted with stones and dirt was thrown on him. All this tragedy was consequences set in motion from David’s sin before Absalom was even born.
His own son does the most despicable thing possible to become a stench in his father’s eyes. There was a resulting battle and twenty thousand men are killed. Absalom was stuck in a tree and killed. David had ordered his son protected but David’s general would not obey that command. David’s anguish is recorded in 2 Samuel 18:33. The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!
There are many great servants of God whose past sins rival that of King David. But they also carry scars like King David. Psalm 51 is the great Psalm of the forgiveness of David’s sin. We carry on despite the consequences. You may carry scars of your own. Press on and keep your faith.
The consequences were from actions set in motion by David’s sin. His own son does the most despicable thing possible to become a stench in his father’s eyes.
You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (2 Samuel 12:2)
Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. (2 Samuel 16:21-22)
Could it get any worse? Does the consequence of sin end now? There is more in the form of a terrible battle loss for David. There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. (2 Samuel 18:7)
After all Absalom did to his father King David, still David ordered him protected. But he was killed, and it devastated David.
Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going. (2 Samuel 18:9)
And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him. (2 Samuel 18:15)
In a verse that reveals the anguish of David, he grieves the painful result of his sin, the death of Absalom. (2 Samuel 18:15)
David’s men were confused. They won the battle for King David, and he is acting like they lost. It was part of the consequences of David’s sin his men did not fully understand. If we said David sinned greatly and was forgiven it would not tell the whole story. Was David the greatest King in the history of Israel, yes. He made a covenant promise with God. He was a man after God’s own heart. He wrote the Psalms of his devotion to God. Yet, sin has consequences. Sin leaves scars.
We need many servants of God to do his work. Where will we get our recruits? They will come from the world. They will be sinners who have terrible scars like King David and like all of us. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, all have the scars of sin. You can’t turn back the clock.
You will have the scars of sin. Don’t give up. King David did not give up. He praised God in the midst of his pain. He wished he died instead of son Absalom. David poured out his heart to God regarding his sin in Psalm 51. We carry on despite the consequences.
