I Blew It...Again!

Screwed up lately? Done something in your past that you still grieve over? Think you’ve committed a sin so horrific that God can never use you again?

Then you haven’t heard about David. Or maybe you have but you don’t think his story can be yours, too.

David was God’s chosen man, shepherd, anointed King of all Israel, champion warrior over his country’s enemies, and even referred to by God as “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22).

And yet David screwed up….big time.

One evening, while wandering around the roof of his house, David saw a beautiful woman bathing on another roof. Instead of popping his eyeballs back in their sockets and fulfilling his desire with one of his many wives or concubines, he “sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, ‘Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?'” (2 Sam. 11:3).

While Bathsheba’s lineage might not mean much to you, this anonymous “one” person brought up her dad and husband’s names for a reason. Her genealogy should have acted as a flashing STOP sign to David.

Bathsheba’s father Eliam was the son of a man named Ahithopel, a man who just so happened to be “David’s counselor” (2 Sam. 23:34, 2 Sam. 15:12). Scripture also says that Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, was one of David’s “mighty men” (1 Chron. 11:26, 41).

So, David was looking to commit adultery with the granddaughter of one of his most trusted counselors and the wife of one of his most valiant warriors.

To me, this seems like a no-brainer.

But David didn’t even stop and think about his intended actions. In the rapid-fire of events found in the very next verse, “David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her” (2 Sam. 11:4).

But it gets worse.

News soon came that Bathsheba was pregnant from this one-night stand, and with her husband off to war, she couldn’t very well claim he was the father. David was in a pickle. How could he get out of this mess?

David’s answer? Call Uriah home from the battlefront. Send him home to his wife. Surely, Uriah’s desire for Bathsheba would overcome him so that later when he received news of his wife’s pregnancy, he would believe the child to be his own.

But Uriah lived up to his calling as one of David’s “mighty men.” He told David, “the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to drink and to lie with my wife?” (2 Sam. 11:11).

David tried again, this time making Uriah drunk, but still, Uriah refused to go in to his wife.

David should have come clean about his sin. But he didn’t. Instead, he sent Uriah back to the war with a letter addressed to the head commander…a letter instructing that commander to “Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die” (v. 15).

Adulterer. Now murderer. And God was through with him, right?

Wrong.

The story doesn’t end there.

Psalm 51 records that David repented of his sin. He begged God’s forgiveness. And God granted it.

Yes, David still was punished for his sin: God took his son with Bathsheba. And the fourfold consequences of that sin (prophesied in 2 Samuel 12) played out in David’s family for the rest of his days—the rape of one daughter, one son killing another, a son sleeping with David’s concubines on his own roof in his attempt to usurp the throne.

But even though David had to pay the price for his sin, God wasn’t finished with him yet. God continued to use David’s repentant heart for His glory. He gave David and Bathsheba another son, Solomon. And what’s even more amazing, after his sin, God used David to collect all the gold, bronze, silver, timber, and stone; line up all the skilled workmen; and have prepared all the utensils of service needed to construct His holy temple in Jerusalem. The rest of his life was spent preparing the way for his son to build God’s earthly residence.

Still not convinced? Read Matthew 1. David and Bathsheba were part of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s lineage.

This can be your story, too.

It doesn’t matter what the sin is. As long as you have repented of and turned away from that sin, God can still use you. And what’s more, He wants to use you…if He didn’t have a future plan to glorify Himself through your life, your heart wouldn’t still be beating.

Your life is not over yet. Some wondrous work for the kingdom awaits.