- I anointed you
- I rescued you
- I gave you the house where you once were a servant
- I gave you people to love
- I gave you two kingdoms
- I would have done more.
"So why have you shown such contempt for the word of Adonai and done what I see as evil?" (2 Samuel 12:7-9 summarized)
Contempt for His word?
First, notice that this doesn't say contempt for God but contempt for His word. They are the same but we often don't realize it.
We can't say we love God yet deliberately go against what He says.
King David slept with someone he wasn't married to while pretending to love God. He plotted murder, not directly but indirectly. He didn't do it with the intent of spitting in God's face, but in order to satisfy his own pleasures, to look good, and to not get caught, he spit upon God's word.
What things do I do to look good instead of honoring God's word, and consequently, God?
Evil in His sight?
Second, God didn't just call David's actions evil but evil in His sight.
Is there a difference?
Why, no.
If something is evil to God, it is evil. Yet I think God might have worded it this way because He is less concerned with what we perceive as evil and more concerned with what He perceives as evil.
God's perspective is the only one that counts. His opinion is the only one that matters.
"If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our heart." (1 John 3:20)
Yeah, what about the other guy? What is that to you? You follow Me! (Jesus in John 21:22, paraphrased by me)
The first mistake
Lastly, notice that David sinned because he focused on what he didn't have instead of what he did. God had blessed him with much and would have done more. But David focused on what was over the wall instead of what he had.
Didn't the first sin in the Garden start this way?
Gratefulness is one way to avoid new sin. I don't say that it's the antidote or the prevention. The blood of Jesus Christ (what He did to pay for sin) is the only antidote and the grace of Jesus (His undeserved favor, power, and victory) is the only prevention. We cannot earn either.
But gratefulness is also a grace and a gift. When we are enraptured by our gifts and most especially our Giver, what more can we want?
Margaret Mauro, a 22-year-old poet, summed it up well in her poem, "The Young Christian":
Farewell—Henceforth my place
Is with the Lamb who died.
My Sovereign! While I have Thy love,
What can I want beside?
Thyself, blest Lord, art now
My free and loving choice,
In Whom, though now I see Thee not,
Believing, I rejoice!
Shame on me that I sought
Another joy than this,
Or dreamed a heart at rest with Thee
Could crave for earthly bliss!
These vain and worthless things,
I put them all aside:
His goodness fills my longing soul,
And I am satisfied.
Thankfully, David's sin is not the end of the story, and it never need be with us either. He did an about-face away from his sin and continued in an ever deeper relationship with God, and God called him a man after His own heart. Still, the beauty in the truth and grace that God showed him is incredible.
That truth and grace are available for us too in Jesus. (John 1:14)
Heavenly Daddy, help us to be satisfied with You. Help us to see things from Your perspective and to love Your Word honestly. Yet thank You that when we mess up, Jesus' sacrifice is always enough.
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