Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. - Psalm 51:1
Being sorry doesn’t always change the thing you are sorry about. David was sorry he had sinned with Bathsheba. But being sorry didn’t bring their baby or Uriah back from the dead. Being sorry didn’t mend Bathsheba’s broken heart either.
“You may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). This should caution us to watch our Ps and Qs! God will forgive murder, but the grave stands, a still and silent testimony to the act. God will forgive the adulterer, but he may lose his wife to another man. God will forgive the teenage drug addict, but the child’s mind is destroyed and his or her perception impaired. There are consequences to sin.
Absalom, David’s favorite son, revolted against his father, raped David’s wives in public, and tried to kill him. Did Absalom’s behavior reflect his father’s sexual license?
Joab, David’s lifelong friend and trusted general, had received David’s message: “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed” (2 Samuel 11:15). Did Joab’s later decision to follow Absalom reflect his disillusionment with King David?
You reap what you sow. God will forgive you, but the clock cannot be turned back. The far-reaching results of sin are appalling, and God would spare us.
For Further Study: Psalm 51:1-9
Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.
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