Gut Punch

Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight,  Psalm 51:4a NASB

You only – David correctly understands that his sin breaks the foremost relationship of the king, that is, his alignment with God.  That doesn’t mean others aren’t injured.  They are.  Bathsheba experiences humiliation.  Uriah is murdered.  The people discover that their king has failed them in significant ways.  We haven’t mentioned the impact on David’s other wives and children, but that is also part of this sad event.  Some of these offended parties were not able to forgive.  Some were, if they chose to.  We have to wonder if the subsequent treatment of Solomon doesn’t begin here, in this adultery.  David’s family is perhaps the most dysfunctional of all Israel’s leaders and it continues to spill over decades.

But behind this is the foundational sin—acting on ego’s desire rather than God’s command.  In fact, this is the only sin that can’t be acknowledged and restored by the society at large because it is a direct blow against God’s trust in David as a leader.  Just like us, David became complacent in the role he played and the power he wielded.  That mistake led to an unraveling of all he previously accomplished for God.  Now he knows if he can’t recover at this level, no matter what he does in any of the other relationships he has, they will count for naught.  Nathan slaps him into the recognition of moral failure at the deepest level.

Have you had a prophetic wake-up call like this?  Oh, it might not have happened with the appearance of a man dressed as a prophet.  Maybe it didn’t occur through the agency of one of God’s messengers at all.  Maybe you were still sensitive enough to hear God’s voice without a trumpet blast.  Maybe not.  All I know is my experience took a decided turn when I suddenly became aware of my mortality.  I don’t mean that I didn’t already know I would die.  Someday.  The end of life is obvious.  What I mean is that I suddenly had an awareness that one of the great thinkers I follow who was younger than I, died.  That hit me.  His work was wonderful.  Now there would be no more words.  I thought about my work.  Would anyone think the same about me when I expire?  Would I have served my purpose?  The doubts haunted me, especially since I am so intimately aware of my private failings.  I don’t want those to be what is left behind!

All of this led to something quite startling.  I realized that God was still active in me, that there was time left . . . but seriousness and dedication were my part of the arrangement.  God was able to redeem if I was able to reform.  I wonder if David felt the same.  God could have simply judged him unworthy and removed him, but He didn’t.  Some other lesson was taking shape.

Often those traumatizing scandals we brought on ourselves derail the trajectory for quite some time.  David needed a punch in the chest to see his true state.  Fortunately, God’s blows are tailored just right for each of us.  I’m not sure I could have survived a “Nathan.”

Topical Index: Nathan, wake-up call, die, Psalm 51:4a