What a jerk!! No, what a two-faced liar!! No, what a hypocrite!! No, what a murderer!! Ok . . . so I’m reacting to 2Samuel 11 and the well known account of David’s sin with Bathsheba. It’s starts with a look . . . leads to lust . . . ends up in bed . . . results in pregnancy . . . involves a cover up plan which doesn’t work because Uriah is a righteous man . . . and then is “resolved” through mass murder ( check out 11:17, “And Uriah was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.” – NLT). David blew it! . . . and he blew it in the worst way!

But then I read verse 27, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord”, and I think to myself, “Self, that seems somewhat understated.”

In fact, it seems kind of disproportionate to the LORD’s reaction to another king’s transgression. Remember King Saul? He didn’t commit adultery . . . he didn’t murder anyone to cover up his sin. Instead, he disobeyed God . . . he rebelled against God’s authority. And what was God’s response? . . . “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments” (1Sam 15:11). God thus determines to take the kingdom away from Saul.

And I’m thinking, “So what’s the difference?” It’s can’t just be the sin . . . it has to be something more. It’s the heart . . .

Saul’s heart was not wholly devoted to God . . . in fact as would be proved again and again, Saul’s heart was really devoted to Saul. His sin was the sin of self-determination leading to rebellion. Instead of doing what God had asked, Saul repeatedly said, in effect, “No! I’ll do it my way.” Rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft . . . stubbornness is like idolatry as it sets up our will against Gods. (1Sam 11:23) Saul rejected God . . . God rejected Saul.

So, back to David . . . what’s going down here? There is no minimizing the extent and horror and degraded behavior associated with David’s actions. As I linger over this sordid tale it should turn my stomach . . . it did David’s (check out Psalms 32 and 51). But when David was confronted with his sin, when he was found out, there were no excuses on his part . . . only confession, “I have sinned against the LORD” (2Sam. 11:13a). The man with a heart after God, was contrite and broken.

Now, it’s not like there would be no judgment or consequences for his actions . . . the baby would die and David’s family would implode. But David was not rejected of God. Why? Because of his heart. It’s the bottom line desire of weak flesh that God looks at. David desired to live for God . . . he didn’t live perfectly . . . but he lived for God. And when he crashed and burned . . . in a real big way!! . . . God knew David’s heart.

But there’s another factor that allows God to look beyond David’s transgression in order to consider his heart . . .

And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die”   (2Samuel 12:13b ESV)

There’s the cross . . . “the LORD has put away your sin” . . . literally, “the LORD has caused your sin to be passed over.” There’s the Lamb . . . there’s the blood . . . there’s the finished work of Christ . . . sufficient to atone for all sin . . . even David’s . . . sin committed centuries before Christ came to earth . . . even mine, sin committed centuries after.

David’s heart of repentance was necessary . . . but apart from the blood of atonement, repentance has no foundation on which to be responded to . . . “for the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). But mix repentance with the shed blood of the risen Christ and you have redemption (Rom. 3:24).

David crashed and burned hard . . . and there would be dire consequences for him and for his family . . . but David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) . . . and the blood of Jesus Christ was sufficient to cleanse him from all sin (1John 1:9).

The heart and the cross . . . and the grace of God. To Him be all glory.