There are Bible stories that are hard to understand. We don’t like to talk about this because it can sound like we’re having doubts about our faith. But if we’re honest, what God does in certain situations doesn’t seem to align with what he has done in other similar cases. An example is the famous King David. We all admire and respect his radical trust in God when he challenged the giant Goliath in a literal Death Match, but we shake our heads in wonder when God seems to forgive David so easily for stealing another man’s wife and then having him killed.
Even a quick read through the well-known Old Testament stories gives ample examples of the Lord putting people to death for actions that seem minor compared to what David did. We wonder, “Is God inconsistent?”
Maybe, just maybe, God’s forgiveness of David teaches us more about ourselves than we would like to admit. Could it be that rather than spending time comparing the severity of David’s sins with those of other people, we should be looking at ourselves? In certain situations, David displayed a trust in God that would put even our best faith moments to shame. Yet he had the potential to commit the most heinous of sins. Perhaps what we learn from this man is that we are all capable of the same crimes he committed. The incredible grace that David needed, we also need. Instead of looking down on the man, we should join him on our knees and say with him, “Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion…wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.”
The grace of God is so shocking it has been called scandalous. Praise his name, it is because we all certainly need scandalous grace.
Sunday Morning Worship Service – 10:00 am