HEART OF DAVID: TRUE REPENTANCE

2 Samuel 11...David sees Bathsheba bathing while up on the roof of the palace and has an affair with her. Afterwards he calls her husband, Uriah, back from the battlefield and tells him to visit with his wife Bathsheba. David is hoping Uriah the Hittite will lay with her and think the resulting child will be his.

Uriah refuses to go see his wife because he is loyal to his men and doesn’t want to take advantage of this because his men cannot have the same opportunity. David then gets Uriah drunk hoping he will go home and lay with his wife, but Uriah sleeps at the palace.

David, in frustration, then instructs his commander in the field, Joab, to send Uriah to the front in the heat of battle and withdraw from him so that he will be struck down. Joab does so and Uriah is killed in the battle.

After Uriah’s death his wife Bathsheba mourns for him. After the period of mourning David calls her to the palace and takes her as his wife.

David at this point in his life was taking things easy and not keeping focused on the things of the Lord. In a weak moment he sees Bathsheba bathing on her roof and calls for her. Bathsheba must have known David would be looking as she does not protest when he calls for her. Both of them should have known better. David’s crime is very serious and worthy of death.

2 Samuel 12...God sends Nathan the Prophet to David who tells David a parable about a man who has his only lamb stolen by a rich man who kills it and eats it. David is outraged that anyone would do such a thing and declares such a man should die.

Nathan informs David that he is that man. His treatment of Uriah was the same as the rich man in the parable treated the poor man--but much worse!

Nathan tells David he will not die but that a sword will divide his house and the kingdom will be split in two. David will pay for this sin against God and man. The child he and Bathsheba had then became sick unto death. While the child is sick David fasts and prays for 7 days until the child dies. He spent those seven days repenting before God for his sin and accepting God’s punishment. He did not get angry at God or curse God. He accepted the judgment.

As terrible as David’s sin was he threw himself at the mercy of God and did not become arrogant. David did not run from God and decide he was finished walking in God’s way. Instead David crawled towards God and repented from his terrible sins of adultery and murder. He was quick to repent! This was truly an extraordinary act of repentence when you think about it!

Most of us would turn away from God at this point with an arrogant and angry disposition. Then we would have punished Nathan the prophet for delivering the message. God loved David because David had a repentant heart and accepted his punishment. David understood he was saved by grace--not his own works. God showed his great mercy and righteousness. He must require David pay a price, but God kept his promises toward David. David understood he had a price to pay and blessed God for His mercy. "He took it like a man" to put it in the vernacular.

Psalm 51 is David’s beautiful song of repentance and acknowledgment of his sin. This is my favorite psalm. It expresses David’s repentant heart and great love of God. It is truly a psalm to pray and meditate on before the Lord. David’s throne has been blessed by God because David had a heart and spirit that accepted God‘s righteous judgment. This is the heart God wants to work in each of us.