Have you ever tried to escape well- earned punishment? Oh, I remember all right. There was a time when I rubbed my palms in dirt, thinking that it would reduce the pain of the flogging of earned. It worked. As a matter of fact, I escaped being flogged. For some time thereafter, I would ruin my psalms in the dirt, hoping to once again escape a flogging.
Illogical? Oh yes. But that didn’t phase me.
(Ironically, I never thought of trying to be good. But that’s for another day’s reflection). I believe the desire to escape the consequences of our actions is innate. Sometimes, God allows us to move past the wrong without visible repercussions in the moment; at other times, God holds us immediately accountable. But what about when others are implicated in our consequences? Consider Today’s Holy Nougat (p.s., this might be hard for some of us)
2 Samuel 12:23 NIV
[23] But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Tough Consequences
Our favourite earthly king committed himself by an act of rape/adultery. He tried to destroy the evidence of his misdeeds. Initially, he attempted to cuckhold the woman’s husband – not once, but twice! When that didn’t work, he sacrificed the lives of several soldiers out at war by placing the innocent husband, one of his elite squad members, at the forefront of the regiment. As planned, the man died.
At that point, with his sins ‘hidden’, David took his new mistress home and made her a new wife, thus legitimising Bathsheba’s pregnancy. Oh, what a tangled web David wove!
Self-Check
To what extent have we ever gone to hide evidence of our sin/wrong? How did we react when it backfired?
Application
2 Samuel 11 tells us about the rape/adultery. Had the accounting ended there, we might have felt that some of God’s children get away with murder, literally. I wouldn’t have wished death on that child, but that was the recorded consequence (at least, initially). Prior to that child’s death, after hearing God’s verdict, David attempted to change God’s mind. He fasted. He pleaded. He prostrate himself before God.
To no avail.
That child physically died. (Subsequent to that action, David lost at least 3 other children: Tamar, Amnon, and Absalom).
In that moment, David learned some painful but critical lessons.
He discovered that there are consequences to our actions, even if we’re God’s beloved.
Additionally, he discovered that wrongdoers may escape immediate judgement, but others bear the brunt of our poor choices.
Most of all, he learned that being punished by God in the here and now doesn’t mean that God was finished with him.
Those lessons hold true for us also.
Note David’s confident assertion. I will go to him, but he will not return to me. In that statement we realize that David was confident of two things:
a) God had taken that innocent child to Heaven, despite the father’s sin.
b) He, David was still destined for Heaven, despite his prior sinful act
That’s a powerful conviction right there!
Yes, he sinned. He sinned boldly and badly.
But …
Having repented, he was confident that he was forgiven.
Despite the consequences of his sin, David was confident in the grace of God. His God. Our God.
We know how that story ended. The next child he conceived with the other man’s (Uriah’s) widow, Bathsheba, became the next king of Israel. David became the ancestor of the Messiah, Y’shua Jesus.
Whatever sin we have committed, even if we tried to cover up and it backfired, I pray we also find hope. The hope that assures us that
God remains in control
God is still in the forgiveness business
There is hope
And, if we bear the brunt of the damage from someone else’s sin; firstly, let me assure you, God isn’t asleep. Take courage. God can still bring good from the consequences of someone else’s ill actions. May there be healing within, brought forth from our Healer, Christ Jesus.
Point to Ponder
Is there a burden from past sin (committed by us, or against us) that we need to release to God’s care? We can’t undo the deed; but we have hope in God’s grace.
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May all we seek be found in Christ
