The Undeserving Heart - The Man After God's Own Heart Series

OPEN: Max Lucado tells the story of a young boy who had just rec’d a slingshot for his birthday

He’d spend hours shooting rocks at various target/but he never seemed to be able to hit his target.

One day he was in his Grandmother’s house and he watched as her pet duck waddled by. On impulse he took aim with his slingshot and let fly. And he hit it… and the duck died.

“The boy panicked and hid the bird in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister Sally watching.

After lunch that day, the Grandmother told Sally to help with the dishes. Sally responded, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you Johnny?” And then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So, Johnny did the dishes. For the next several weeks he was often at the kitchen sink. Sometimes for his duty, sometimes for his sin. And whenever he was tempted to object, his sister reminded him “Remember the duck.”

APPLY: (pause…) What else could he do? His grandmother had loved him. But now he’d done a terrible thing and if grandma ever found out… she’d never forgive him. He DIDN’T DESERVE her love. And so… he did the only thing he could think to do… (pause…) He hid his sin. He buried the duck in the wood pile hoping that no one would ever find out

I. That’s been the way of people ever since Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve ate of the fruit God had forbidden and when God came for visit - what did they do? They hid. They tried to cover the nakedness of their sin by covering themselves with fig leaves and then (at the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden) they HID themselves among the trees of the garden. Their guilt and their shame caused them to attempt to hide their sins. They knew they didn’t deserve God’s love but they thought, if only they could hide their sin from Him they would never have to face the consequence of their inability to deserve what He wanted them to have.

Now - here in David’s life - we find King David did pretty much the same thing. David tried to hide his sin too.

Look at the opening verse of this Psalm “For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” (Psalms 51:1)

David had committed adultery with the wife of one of his best friends (Bathsheba) and when it became obvious that she was pregnant David struggled and schemed to find some way to hide his sin. When David found out that Bathsheba was pregnant he tried to hide his sin by making Uriah think the child would be his. He sent a message to the commander of the army to send him Uriah. David pretended to be interested in news from the battle and then sent Uriah home to his wife… but Uriah refused to sleep in his own house.

2 Samuel 11:11 tells us that Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"

Then David got Uriah drunk and sent him home… but still Uriah refused to sleep in his home while the armies of Israel were in the field. Finally, David sent Uriah back to the battle front with a message for Joab which read:

“Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” 2 Samuel 11:15

His plan worked perfectly, Uriah died on the field of battle. David was free to take Bathsheba as his wife and his sin was hidden. Or so he thought.

Isaiah 29:15 declares: Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?"

Hebrews 4:13 tells us “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

You can’t hide anything from God… and neither could David.

David thought he’d hidden his sin. He thought he had it covered. He thought no one would know…. But God knew.

God sent His prophet Nathan to David and declared