If yesterday’s readings covered one of my favorite chapters, 2 Samuel 9, this morning I endure one of my least favorite, 2 Samuel 11.

What a dolt David was! He should have been where kings ought to have been, going out to battle. He should not have been looking where kings should not look, on the nakedness of his subjects. He should not have been lusting after, and then sleeping with that which no man should lust after, another man’s wife. And he should not have been conspiring to put to death one of his most trusted and faithful soldiers in order to cover up what, before God at least, could never be covered up.

Ugh! So much for being a hero. But the “double ugh” is that there but for the grace of God go I. Maybe not the same details, or to the degree of severity, but not being where I should be, coveting what I should not covet, and covering up what really can’t be covered up . . . yeah, there go I.

How the mighty had fallen. There’s no joy in watching a train wreck occur. In fact, it downright empties the soul to consider, as one friend put it at coffee last week, that those we want to admire, esteem, and put on a pedestal are “screw ups.” Because, as he said, it reminds us that we’re all “screw ups.” Yup, just as soon skip chapter 11 if I could.

But that’s the thing about the gospel, isn’t it? The gospel is such good news because there’s always bad news. There’s redemption because there are people in need of redeeming. There’s a Savior ’cause we are all sinners. And I see the Savior this morning in the midst of David’s sin.

In 2 Samuel 12, David’s busted. Nathan is sent by God to bring to light what David had hoped would remain a deep, dark secret. Not only did David strike down an innocent man in order to take his wife to be his wife after he had got her pregnant, but in doing so, says the LORD, “You have despised Me.” (2Sam. 12:9-10). David’s covetousness for Bathsheba was, at its core, contempt for His Sovereign. His determination to put Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, to death was actually an act displaying disdain for His Maker. And David knew it.

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

(2Samuel 12:13a ESV)

But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more (Rom. 5:20).

And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

(2Samuel 12:13b ESV)

If you’re reading the NLT, grace abounded in that the LORD had “forgiven” David’s sin. If you’re reading the NIV, grace had “taken away” David’s transgressions. But reading the ESV, I’m left to chew on the divine declaration that the LORD had “put away” David’s sin. Forgiven because His sin had been taken away. But taken away and put where? Where’d it go?

Cue everyone’s most trusted Sunday School answer — Jesus! David’s sin was put away because it was put on Jesus. That’s where it went.

God put away David’s sin when He laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:5-6). When the Father “made Him to be sin who knew no sin” (2Cor. 5:21), David had a place for his sin to be put away to. All of it! The sin of chapter 11, as well as the sin that would trip him up in subsequent chapters. All the sin from all the chapters of David’s life, the LORD has put away!

Thus, while sin would have its consequence, there would be no condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Not for David, nor for me. Praise God!

How’s that for good news found in kind of a crummy chapter?

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.