King David’s Amends

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun…Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. II Samuel 12:9-12, 14

Steps: 8, 9, 12

God tells David that he has been forgiven for his acts of murder and deception but because he did these things two things will happen: 1st many people will use this occasion by David to justify the person’s sins, and 2nd evil will rise up out of David’s own house to punish him for his defects. Also, as a result of David’s sin he will lose 4 sons, the first one will be the first born child of David and Bathsheba. This innocent baby will be the second person to suffer for David’s sin, the first being Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband who was killed by David. The baby, a symbol of Jesus, will die - the innocent will die for the guilty.

Prayer for Today: God, You know how many evil sleazy, seemingly innocent things we have done and yet we still try to pull the wool over Your eyes to protect ourselves. We are so sick of doing these things that today we ask for Your forgiveness. We cognitively know that cheating You is not a good thing and we ask for Your help again today. Help us to be willing to change today. Help us to be open, honest, and willing to not take advantage of others.