Beauty out of Brokenness (2 Samuel 11)
In a shocking series of events, King David, the one called "a man after God's own heart," was guilty of adultery and murder.
There is only one Hero in the Bible. His name is Jesus, God-in-the-Flesh, the true Son of David. Troubling though it is, David's affair is a poignant reminder that God’s grace is generously given to all of us. Not a one of us is so low as to be beyond it, and none of us is so high as to be above it.
David’s failure reminds us of this important truth: There is more evil in us than we dare to admit, and there is more grace for us than we dare to believe. Things are worse than we have feared, and better than we have imagined.
Most of us have a hard time balancing these opposite ideas. It takes a great deal of grace to get it right; in fact I surmise that none of us do it very well. We’re either too hard on ourselves, or not hard enough. We take ourselves too seriously, and God not seriously enough.
Here is the only way I know how to keep the proper balance: Corporate Worship. We need regular exposure to the gospel story to counteract our tendency to wallow in self-pity, or to live in denial of our need for grace.
We could ask the same question many times over, for there are numerous misdeeds which have somehow been woven into the fabric of God’s redemptive story, both in the Bible and in subsequent history. In fact, this seems more like the rule than the exception.
Which is incredibly good news, if you think about it. For which of us has a life without its share of wrong turns? The beauty of grace is this: The mistakes of yesterday do not negate the good God wants to accomplish in and through our lives tomorrow. It’s almost as if God delights in taking the wreckage of our past and forming out of it the beautiful trophies of our future.
Or as scripture says it, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). No, we cannot figure God out. But we can rejoice that God will make everything beautiful in its time.
After all, if God could turn the most evil event in all history into the day we now call “Good Friday,” God is certainly able to make beauty out of the brokenness of our lives. God did it with David. God did it throughout the Scriptures. God does it today. You can count on it: God will do it with you, too.
David had an affair with the wife of one of his best friends. When she became pregnant, he covered it up by having his friend killed on the battlefield. (You can read about it in 2 Samuel 11.)
It is a sad and sordid story. His failure reminds us that even the best of us is capable of the worst of us. Every human being carries in himself or herself the highest aspirations and the lowest degradations possible. This truth is at the core of the biblical story: Humanity is beautiful; humanity is broken; humanity needs rescue.
It is a sad and sordid story. His failure reminds us that even the best of us is capable of the worst of us. Every human being carries in himself or herself the highest aspirations and the lowest degradations possible. This truth is at the core of the biblical story: Humanity is beautiful; humanity is broken; humanity needs rescue.
There is only one Hero in the Bible. His name is Jesus, God-in-the-Flesh, the true Son of David. Troubling though it is, David's affair is a poignant reminder that God’s grace is generously given to all of us. Not a one of us is so low as to be beyond it, and none of us is so high as to be above it.
David’s failure reminds us of this important truth: There is more evil in us than we dare to admit, and there is more grace for us than we dare to believe. Things are worse than we have feared, and better than we have imagined.
Most of us have a hard time balancing these opposite ideas. It takes a great deal of grace to get it right; in fact I surmise that none of us do it very well. We’re either too hard on ourselves, or not hard enough. We take ourselves too seriously, and God not seriously enough.
Here is the only way I know how to keep the proper balance: Corporate Worship. We need regular exposure to the gospel story to counteract our tendency to wallow in self-pity, or to live in denial of our need for grace.
For grace, the incredible story of God’s rescue plan through Jesus, is the only thing that can keep us from the opposite dangers of spiritual pride or spiritual despair. Both are deadly. But worship, especially at the Table of the Lord, reminds us of both the costliness and the beauty of grace. And it’s amazing.
We’d like to imagine that grace wipes out the consequences of our behavior. And in an ultimate sense it does: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
But there are natural consequences to our mis-behavior, and not all of these are wiped away. Although David repented and was forgiven for his sin, the child of his illicit union died.
We’d like to imagine that grace wipes out the consequences of our behavior. And in an ultimate sense it does: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
But there are natural consequences to our mis-behavior, and not all of these are wiped away. Although David repented and was forgiven for his sin, the child of his illicit union died.
David’s family was a wreck thereafter: One of his sons raped his step-sister; another son killed that step-brother in revenge; the same son (Absalom) led a revolt which temporarily made David a refugee in his own kingdom.
David’s life, for all its glory, ended with a whimper. So, yes, we rejoice in God’s abundant grace, but neither should we presume that our choices are without consequences.
And yet … grace always has the last word. One of the great mysteries of life is this: even worst of our choices can ultimately accomplish God’s greater good (Romans 8:28). For while the child of David’s affair died, another son was born out of their union thereafter. His name was Solomon, the next great king of Israel.
This facet of God’s grace has always mystified me. My logical mind asks, “If it was not God’s will for David to have an affair with Bathsheba, how could it be God’s will for Solomon to become the next great king of Israel?” David had other wives. Why not one of their children? After all, this means that the line from David to Jesus passes through his adulterous affair. It staggers the imagination. Doesn’t God have any self respect?
And yet … grace always has the last word. One of the great mysteries of life is this: even worst of our choices can ultimately accomplish God’s greater good (Romans 8:28). For while the child of David’s affair died, another son was born out of their union thereafter. His name was Solomon, the next great king of Israel.
This facet of God’s grace has always mystified me. My logical mind asks, “If it was not God’s will for David to have an affair with Bathsheba, how could it be God’s will for Solomon to become the next great king of Israel?” David had other wives. Why not one of their children? After all, this means that the line from David to Jesus passes through his adulterous affair. It staggers the imagination. Doesn’t God have any self respect?
We could ask the same question many times over, for there are numerous misdeeds which have somehow been woven into the fabric of God’s redemptive story, both in the Bible and in subsequent history. In fact, this seems more like the rule than the exception.
Which is incredibly good news, if you think about it. For which of us has a life without its share of wrong turns? The beauty of grace is this: The mistakes of yesterday do not negate the good God wants to accomplish in and through our lives tomorrow. It’s almost as if God delights in taking the wreckage of our past and forming out of it the beautiful trophies of our future.
Or as scripture says it, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). No, we cannot figure God out. But we can rejoice that God will make everything beautiful in its time.
After all, if God could turn the most evil event in all history into the day we now call “Good Friday,” God is certainly able to make beauty out of the brokenness of our lives. God did it with David. God did it throughout the Scriptures. God does it today. You can count on it: God will do it with you, too.
