Westside Church of Christ

God looked at David and found him to be a man after His heart (Acts 13:22). That is quite an assessment from above, but it did not always translate into righteous living. He wandered onto his rooftop at the time when kings went to war. His eyes landed on the lady next door, and his heart skipped a beat or two. It also short-circuited his brain. Lust got the better of him and set off a chain reaction that echoed for centuries (2 Samuel 11 &12).

His adulterous story is a familiar one. It happens numerous times everyday in our culture. Loyalty is not very common anymore. After all, it doesn’t hurt anyone else, right? Let’s take a lesson from the man after God’s heart. The consequences of his “harmless” sin reached far beyond a single night of fleshly pleasure.

There was the unplanned pregnancy which called for action. The strategy today would probably be an abortion. At first, the king tried to lure the husband into having relations with his wife so that he would believe the child was his. That failed. Then he set up Uriah, the husband, for death in battle. Success, mission accomplished. A life is taken to cover for sin. Victimless? Hardly, and that wasn’t the end.

The prophet Nathan nailed David, and the newborn baby would die as a consequence of his night of selfish gratification. The king, the one after God’s own heart, fasted and wept and prayed intensely. None of that removed the penalty. The child died, and David would have to live with that for the rest of his life. He was forgiven, but he could not forget what had happened and why. There would be more. Public humiliation and bloodshed would continually remind him of the night that he wandered into the darkness with the woman next door.

He would be haunted by the memory. If we wonder what it’s like to live with such an experience, the fifty-first Psalm gives us a look into the heart of a suffering sinner. He could think about little else. His transgression hung like a dark cloud over him every day. There was no escape. He felt it deep down inside, and he knew that hurt people but was in actuality against his God.

The dirt clung to his soul. No amount of soap could reach the filth that he felt deep down inside. He felt the desperation that helplessness in the face of guilt brings. He could not fix the mess that he had made. God could and would. He will do the same for us. Sin often hurts others, but the biggest consequences come to the sinner. It does damage deep within, and puts distance between them and the Lord. Nothing could be worse. Praise God for the blood that takes the guilt of sin away.

Call to Praise: Acts 15:6-11

His word on it: Titus 2:11

Sermon: “Focus on God”