READ SECOND SAMUEL ELEVEN
David, the shepherd God chose to be the next king of Israel, becomes king. And he is a good king. He does right in the eyes of the Lord, and has a heart that is molded after God’s.
But, in today’s narrative, we see a dark side of the king. Complete the timeline below by noting the verses for each event (note: some events may have multiple verses).
EVENT:
David inquires about the woman
David takes the woman and sleeps with her
Bathsheba tells David she is pregnant
David sends Uriah home
Uriah refuses to go home
David orders Uriah’s murder
David takes Bathsheba as his wife
Bathsheba has a son
Does anything about this narrative
indicate to you that David’s heart is
molded after God’s heart? Does anything
about his character mimic God’s
character? Nothing in this story should
cause us to think highly of David, and that
is exactly the point. Though David sins in
the sight of the Lord, though he lies and
deceives, though he takes another man’s
wife and sleeps with a woman not his wife,
and even though he has that man killed …
still God graciously keeps His promise to
send a Messiah. And He uses messy,
sinful, broken people like king David to do
so.
This, my friends, is the Gospel. This is your
story and my story. It is the story of God’s
faithfulness in the midst of our own
unfaithfulness – the story that proclaims
that when we are faithless, God is faithful
still.
David does repent and bear the Lord’s
discipline, but it was not his righteousness
that caused David to be included in the
family tree of the Messiah. It was grace,
friends. It was all God’s grace.
PRAY & REFLECT:
Spend some time reflecting on the grace
of God. Thank Him that when you are
unfaithful He remains faithful. Confess
areas of sin in your own life to Him and
ask Him to give you a heart of
repentance.