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Sex, lies, intrigue, murder… sounds like an advertisement for
the next Hollywood blockbuster movie. But this story happened thousands of
years ago. It happened when the shepherd boy who killed the giant and
ultimately became king of Israel believed that he had become so powerful
that he imagined himself exempt from the law of the God who had anointed him
king of Israel in the first place.
You should know there are some, including the filmmakers of the movie, David
and Bathsheba, who believe Bathsheba seduced David… that she knew her roof
was visible from the king’s roof and laid her
trap, so to speak. That kind of thinking reminds me of those who say women
who are raped did something, or dressed in some way, that provoked the act.
There are others who firmly believe David did rape Bathsheba. As one of the
king’s subjects, she had no recourse except to go when David’s servants came
to get her for David.
Unlike many stories we read in modern literature, we are not allowed “inside
the heads” of any of the characters in this story. We do not know what David
is thinking or what Bathsheba is thinking. We can make suppositions all we
want, but the bottom line is that it is about King David that the
last line of the 11th chapter of 2 Samuel is written: “But the thing that David had
done displeased the Lord.”
If we continue reading into
chapter 12, we discover that it is against David
that the prophet Nathan pronounces God’s judgment. When Nathan accuses him,
and the literal translation of the Hebrew is “You the man”, no one but David
is held accountable by God. Up until his “indiscretion” with Bathsheba,
David had done pretty well for himself. He’s the “golden boy” who can do no
wrong. But when he missteps, he does it in fine fashion.
This is not just David’s story. It is not just a story about one
man’s libido getting the best of him and him going astray for a little bit.
It is the story of all of us.
At this point you might be getting a little agitated with me. After all,
you’ve never stolen another person’s husband or wife. But… have you ever
sinned? And has that sin resulted in far-reaching consequences? For me, that
is what this story of David and Bathsheba is about. It is a story about the
consequences of the choices we make. It is also a story about God’s grace.
What if David had been on the battlefield with his troops rather than
lounging around the palace and walking about on the roof? I think that at
least one thing we can learn from this story is not to let ourselves be in
the wrong place to begin with.
David should have been with his troops. That is where he had spent much of
his life. But now, instead of being with his troops, he’s at the palace. And
because he has forgotten about the God who chose him to be king in the first
place, because his heart is in the wrong place spiritually, being in the
wrong place ultimately puts him in a place where he makes what turns out to
be a deadly choice for many.
If you continue to read on in
2 Samuel, you find out just how far-reaching
the consequences of David’s choice become. While I’m tempted to share all of
those with you, I would prefer, and I strongly encourage, that you take a
little time and read the remaining chapters of
2 Samuel for yourself and see
what happens. I will tell you one thing. David’s choice resulting in the
death of Uriah is just the tip of the iceberg!
How often do we find ourselves in the wrong place? David had convinced
himself that it was about him and about what he wanted. It’s a place we all
know… “I want to do what I want to do and I don’t want to do what I don’t
want to do even if I’m supposed to do it. It’s about me.”
When those times come in our lives, when we are convinced it’s about me and
we’re walking around on the roof and we spy something tempting, then we are
headed for trouble. When we are in that mindset, when we’ve laid aside all
that God shown us to be right and holy, then we are headed for trouble.
I’ve been there on that rooftop. I’ve let myself get to a place where I
think I know what is best for me. And, arrogance
of arrogance, even what is best for others. I’ve let myself get to a place
where I have made choices resulting in consequences that haunt me to this
day and will for the rest of my life.
How do we keep from getting ourselves in the wrong place?
First we must recognize that we get in the wrong place when we become
distanced from God, when we choose to let other things in our lives take
precedence over our on-going relationship with the one who created us and
loves us more than we can ever truly understand. As we can see from the
story of David and Bathsheba, our being in the wrong place spiritually can
have deadly consequences. More often though, for us, I suspect the
consequences are less apparent.
This morning, when I stopped to get my usual morning of coffee at QuikTrip,
I was the only one in the store. The young man behind the counter noticed
the tag on the front of my Explorer and asked me if I had a child at
Lassiter High School because he had graduated from Lassiter and would be
headed back to college in just a few days. He then proceeded to tell me that
he wished he had done things differently; that he wished he hadn’t made some
of the choices he had made when he first went to college. As a result of
those choices, he had to drop out of school for awhile. Now he is back in
college. But since his parents will no longer pay for his college education,
he has borrowed money and also has to work at a job he really does not
enjoy.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the consequences of his choices
would be far-reaching. That he would be paying back those school loans for
years and that having to pay those school loans back might one day affect
whether or not he could afford to buy a house or any of a number of other
things he might otherwise do if he did not have that school debt hanging
over his head. (By the way, this isn’t my subtle way of telling all of you
headed off to college for the first time or returning to college, to behave
yourselves and make good choices…it really is something I experienced. But
do behave yourselves and make good choices!)
I’m sure each one of us has a story of the ripple effect caused in our lives
by choices we have made. I encourage you to remember that we are also able
to make choices that have good consequences. That the good choices we make
can ripple out from our lives into the lives of others and that as a result
of choices we make, others come to know of the goodness and grace of God.
Remember I said earlier that this story of David and Bathsheba is not only
about the consequences of decisions we make, but also a story about God’s
grace? God forgave David. Things that were set in motion as a result of
David’s choice were not magically set aside by God. But God did forgive
David and David managed to live his life in the right place much of the rest
of his life. The
psalm that was read earlier was written by David out of his
realization of the grace that God extended to him.
Will Willimon, a fine preacher and currently a Methodist bishop in North
Carolina, reflected the following: “The empire is forever attempting to
seduce you into the notion that you are here because you deserve it, because
of your autonomous possession of intelligence, or nerve; that you stand
along, that you write your own story, without any outside help. Which means
that you, like David, are susceptible, on the right afternoon, after a good
lunch, to great sin. Which means that you, like David, when exposed to the
right Bible story, on the right Sunday morning, are subject to great
forgiveness.”
May God help each one of us to be in the right place… to be in relationship
with Him. and to enjoy, and be thankful for, the good consequences that will
come from the choices we make from that right place:
that relationship with our holy and loving God! Amen. |
