As I've been reading through the books of Samuel and the account of King David recently I can't help but marvel that God declared him a man after His own heart (Acts 13:21-23) in spite of the man's deep character flaws and unrepentant sins.
One thing I've noticed this time through reading this part of scripture is that David's "confusion" starts well before he ever takes the throne. In 1 Samuel 25 the would-be king sets out in some true mafia like behavior. He gives some unsolicited "protection" to Nabal's property and then demands payment for services rendered. When Nabal refuses, David sets out to have him "whacked," and would have done so if Abigail, Nabal's wife, didn't intervene. So David more or less says, "Fuhgeddaboutit. May the Lord whack this clown for me so I can make off with this hottie broad of his. (1 Samuel 25:32-42... okay, so I may have been praphrasing a bit on what David said)
Then of course there's the ever popular stories of his exploits with Bathsheeba and Uriah, takes a census of his fighting forces because he doubts the sovereignty of God, falters so badly at his kingly duties and parenting that his son, Absalom, practically takes the kingdom from him... and what about all those wives and concubines? HELLLOOOO!?!? How can this man be esteemed so highly throughout the New Testament. Jesus refers to Himself as "the root and descendant of David" (Rev.22:16) and yet here we see this unrepentant sin of rampant adultery that runs through the course of his life.
Whenever we don't see things as God sees them (such as King David being a righteous man) we know it's time for our Christian paradigm to shift into something more biblically accurate. Many of us have reduced grace by stipulating it with a mathematical equation [if professing Christian (X) has (Y) amount of sin in their life it must = they have (F)ailed the the salvation test]. May it never be. The mark of salvation is a living confession of Jesus as Lord and moving our heart to new obedience.
Christ listed the two greatest commands for his followers: to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul. And to love our fellow man as ourselves. Although moral obedience is an aspect of loving the Lord our God He doesn't explicitly list the morality code among his greatest commands.
Now I'm not advocating the abandonment of morality, but far too often in the church we spend far too much time grooming in front of the mirror of morality and far too little time spreading the glory of His name through the application of a supernatural love to our fellow man.
Many cults and world religions are chiefly occupied with morality. People dead and buried commit no sins. Let us not aspire to be like the spritually blind or corpses put into the earth and end up as the noisy gongs and clanging symbols mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
The sins of immorality did handicap the life of king David and the legacy of his kingdom, but ultimately he was a righteous king because he carried out much of God's will in obedience, proclaiming Him as Lord and spreading the Glory of God into the world.
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I think one thing that really sheds life on the life of David for me is reading the Psalms he wrote. (but that's probably a duh :). Just reading all his cries from God during those struggles shows that he really was seeking God in spite of his failures. Look at good ole' 51 - after the whole drama with Bathsheba he was begging God, "Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me..." The whole story of David is just such a testament of grace, God taking someone who was far from perfect, but who was willing to "walk through the valley of the shadow" and "fear no evil" and use his offspring (by what started as an adulterous relationship!) to eventually save the world... well, that's one stinkin' cool story. :)
ReplyDeleteI mean "cries to God..." been a long day. :)
ReplyDeleteAlex: Ain't that something? I am in fact wrapping up in Samuel. Thank you for your Bright Eyes on the topic, very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteRachel: You've made an excellent point. I forgot to add David's repentance as a crucial element to the post. His tremendous weaknesses gave way to tremendous repentance (after all, he did quite literally write the Book on repentance), which gave way to tremendous obedience and faith.
Of course the unrepentent sin of polygmy is what has nagged at me these past few days. After some good council I believe; although God established his desire for monogamous relationships in the early part of Genesis we don't see the priests and prophets of God confronting the kings and patriarchs about their polygamy. As it was sin they did suffer far more than a few headaches from the consequences. For whatever reason God has not chosen to reveal to us, although some may speculate it was the "landscape" of Old Testament times that made polygamy "permissable to a degree." Of course in the New Testament we see a lot more emphasis on the design of a monogamous marriage.
So I'll hang my hat on that conclusion... at least for now.
jason
ReplyDeletevery thought provoking and poignant. so so true regarding the the gospel of morality trumping the great gospel of grace in today's church. The tension is that the morality gospel appeals so much more to our flesh. our propensity to works based religion wages massive war in us...in me.
this blog post i can truly say will help me in this battle.
thanks
blessed
bryan