When Good People Do Bad Things Series

The children begged for a hamster, and after the usual fervent vows that they alone would care for it, they got one. They named him Danny. It was 2 months later when Mom found herself responsible for cleaning and feeding the creature. She located a prospective new home for it.

Mom was surprised that the kids took the news of Danny's impending exit quite well, although one of them said, "He's been around here a long time – we’ll miss him."

"Yes, But he's too much work for one person and since I'm that one person, I say he goes."

Another child offered, "Well, maybe if he wouldn't eat so much and wouldn't be so messy we could keep him." But Mom was firm.

"It's time to take Danny to his new home now. Go get his cage."

With one uproar all the kids shouted, "Danny? We thought you said Daddy!"

Today is Father’s Day! For some reason, it has never received quite the amount of press that Mother’s Day receives. This is a strange thing, because a father’s intrinsic influence has incredible potential in the shaping of sons and daughters.

Ill - Illinois Bell reported a few years ago that the volume of long-distance calls made on Father's Day was growing faster than the number on Mother's Day. They apologized for the delay in compiling the statistics, and explained that the extra billing of calls to fathers slowed things down. Most of them were made collect.

Ill – Someone wrote in a Father's Day card: "Dad, everything I know I learned from you, except for ONE thing that I learned on my own: the family car can do 110 mph!" Happy Father's Day!

Much of the loss of family influence and stability in our current age has been linked to the loss of influence of fathers. So, dads, we need men who will be men after God’s own heart, like David was called.

Acts 13:22 After removing Saul, he [God] made David their king. He testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'

In retrospect, David was a giant. His name and life are recalled more than any other OT character. He was a good man. And David stumbled, no, fell. Today, we’re looking at one of those times he fell. It’s a short story, but it had a lifelong impact on David.

2 Samuel 11:2-5 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

To make matters worse, the rest of the chapter is about the way David made a few attempts at a cover-up that flopped. God knows what we do. And the punishment David would incur is evidence of it:

2 Samuel 12:10-12, 14 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.' "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'"

14 …because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."

Remember, this is part of the life of “a man after God’s own heart.” In other words, sometimes good people fall, and they fall in a way that causes lots of people lots of pain. Dads, give attention to this.

Now, you’re a “good person.” After all, you’re here at Villa Heights on Father’s Day! But if you think you’re above messing up real badly, you’ve not been paying much attention to the life of David!

I have to ask myself, “Why did God have this part of David’s life included?” He obviously left out a lot of details. Why did He choose to include this?

All I can conclude is that God put this here for us to look at so that we won’t repeat David’s mistakes. In other words, it’s right for us to look at this chapter at David’s dirty laundry and to consider what contributed to his stumble. There are some principles there to help us not repeat his mistakes. In fact, I can’t think of any other reason that the Lord would have placed this story here.