A big mess-up

Lessons from David: 2 Samuel 11-12
Things were going so well for David. He was experiencing the fulfilment of God's promises to him (he had rest on every side from his enemies), and was leading Israel to victory in every battle (through God's grace). The problem with things going well is that we become complacent and arrogant. This seems to have happened to David.

He decides not to go off with the other kings to battle, but to have a rest at home. And the story is well-known: he views Bathsheba bathing, orders for her to be brought to him, sleeps with her, then tries to deal with her subsequent pregnancy by giving her husband too much wine and trying to make him go home to sleep with her. When Uriah refuses to do so, David arranges for him to be killed in battle. He abuses his power as king to take something that is not rightfully his.

Nathan's parable illustrates the selfishness and brutality of David's actions. Faced with the ugliness of his sin, he repents- but must take the consequences (his son's death).

God's grace, though, is shown in His desire to forgive David. The incident shows us how perfect Jesus is by comparison, why He is our true King, and reminds us that we can't hide our sin from God. The best thing to do when we have big mess-ups is to go straight to Him and ask for forgiveness. The spiral of sin David found himself in is one that we are all susceptible to.

When God doesn't intervene

Lessons from David- 1 Samuel 21-22

It seems that this whole situation has really brought out the worst in Saul. While David is reduced to nibbling on consecrated bread and feigning insanity, 85 priests are killed by Saul's sinful rage. This could all have been prevented if God had killed Saul and made David King. But God did not intervene in this way. Why not?

He had good reasons! He is perfectly good and all His ways are just. He wanted to teach David more about trusting in Him, and whilst we may not always understand His ways, we need to trust that He is in control and knows what He's doing.

The scenario with the priests gives us two important lessons:
1. Don't be spiritually complacent- Saul was anointed by God... and now he's a killer.
2. Don't obey an evil request- the king's officials were right to disobey him.

Overall, there may be many times in life when we don't understand what God is doing. He may allow things to happen that we don't like. But we need to trust that He is doing everything for our benefit, because He loves us, and for His glory, because He is great and good.