| My Cleansing Stream journal [Final - Final] |
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(continued from Part 3)
What matters most?
God's verdict to David’s sin is in 2 Samuel 12:7-15. God had given His final word about the incident (v7-9) and His sentence of the crime (v10-15).
12:10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 12:11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give [them] unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12:12 For thou didst [it] secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 12:13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 12:14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also [that is] born unto thee shall surely die. 12:15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
“I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.” (v7-9)
At first I did not understand and was quite offended by God’s attitude which seemed to allow polygamy, the many wives of David prior to Bathsheba is perhaps another study itself, to simply put Jesus confirmed that God’s design was monogamy.
God told us He had already given David what He intended to be enough for David (note that “had been” means what follows is not true, if it had been too little, what was not given would have been given.) God was angry at David because he "despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own…despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes”. This reminded us God’s commandment to not covet and not to murder.
So why did God still favour David?
I guess it's David's tough choice to follow God no matter what. This determination enabled him to run to kill Goliath when he was stil a powerless boy, and to completely restrain himself in humility to swallow God's punishment when he was a powerful King.
Ultmate offence, ultimate mattter
Who would completely understand God's ways and thoughts that are higher than ours? However, from these people's lives I have a good glimpse of what should matter most in a Christian's life; if I am my life's centre, I'll be offended all the time because "I", most likely, am not the centre of other people's lives; Although there are still areas I’m not convinced, one thing becomes clear is if I take things in my own hands, such as Saul and Absalom, I may be acted out of pride and disobedience, then I'm in danger of moving away from the real centre, the spotlight, God. And if my way to handle does not align with God's Word, it may have serious consequence in both the natural world and the kingdom of God.
Obedience in action to God’s Word matters the most, even when we are offended. It shows our faith in Him, tough choice to make, tough love to God! It's a really hard lesson to learn. Thank you God.
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
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