How could the man after God’s own heart, the one who worshiped God with joy and gladness, composing songs about His steadfast love, do what David did? It was senseless! Committing adultery with a woman at whom he was peeping (the king, no less!), covering it up by having a heroic (Uriah was one of the mighty men mentioned earlier in these accounts, in case you missed it) and devoted servant killed, and in the process recklessly wasting the lives of other soldiers. Can you believe how low he stooped?! I Corinthians 10:11-12 warns us, “These things happened to them as examples, and are written down as warnings for us…. So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.” But for the grace of God that could be any of us, and perhaps has been at least some of us. We need to take David’s example seriously and consider it our warning of what we ourselves are capable. That is doubtless why Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
So the man after God’s own heart blew it, right? How could he be a man after God’s own heart after such awful sin? God took the kingdom from Saul for much less; what awful thing do you suppose is going to happen to David? As Nathan said, God put away David’s sin and did not impose death, the punishment prescribed in the Law for the kind of sin David had committed. Incredibly, He set David up as the standard by which He later measured future kings regarding their dedication to Him. Was God unjust in not letting David have it? The answer is found in David’s simple confession, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Tomorrow we’ll read some psalms that tell more about David’s interaction with God regarding his confession and request for forgiveness. Although his simple confession may not sound abject enough to us to seem sincere, he obviously meant what he said, and his confession was obviously accepted by God, because the relationship seems to have been restored. Notice that when David and Bathsheba’s son died, David promptly worshiped God. He offered God lavish worship, having washed and anointed himself and gone to the house of the Lord to do so. The sacrifice required for such worship at such a time shows true and deep devotion.
II Samuel doesn’t cast David in a favorable light; isn’t it interesting that I Chronicles does? His humanness reminds us that man, as God-like as his heart may be, is still a sinner. David is a wonderful example to us in many good ways, but also in the bad: he reminds us of how helpless we are to save ourselves from our sin, and how desperately we need a Savior. He also serves as a foil for Jesus, shining a light on Jesus’ perfection by his own lack of perfection.