Many are failing the grace of God, forsaking their diligent looking, and allowing for a troubling root of bitterness to develop, defiling many. This is written in Hebrews 12:15. Yes a lot of believers are spineless, but David was not. In 2 Samuel 12:20 it says “Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.”
The verse above culminates a former lusting; a wandering eye in a time of weakness, and an affair. Then, it was followed by a denial, a woman’s pregnancy, a panic by all, and a husband’s murder. Not done yet, we see a cover up, a chastening by God, a rude awakening by David and acknowledgement of sin; his repentance followed that, but the child died, and many tears were cried.
Now David arose, washed, anointed himself, changed clothes and worshipped God in His house? After eating, David comforted the child’s mother, had relations again with this same Bathsheba, and birthed Solomon? Ultimately, David did not fail the grace of God but utilized grace and moved on in his life. There were many battles yet to be fought.
Well, the facts of this story are easily understood, but can we think of it in a more meditative way. All of the buffoonery was David’s own making, and so was all of the humbling. David sinned with Bathsheba in adultery, covered it up, killed the husband to hide it further, angered God, and watched the baby die for punishment for that sin. Do you think that you could still serve God after all that? Do you feel that you would deserve another chance to be king?
Lets pretend to be in David’s head; surely it would be the epitome of arrogance to assume a right to go forward. Surely, it would send a wrong message to the people. Wouldn’t it be better to just quit now, accept the bed of your own making, just accept a penitential future and then die? What gutsiness would presume to go on as if nothing had happened? No permanent consequences? A return to the ruler-ship is out of the question and audacious.
Friends, here is where many fail the grace of God. They fail it with regards to applying it to themselves, and they fail it in reference to others. Indeed, David too did fail it for a while. Nevertheless, God did not impute the sin to David and in spite of the interpretation of the many moral objectors; David would honor the nature of God above his fellows.
God had not removed him from office, as He did with Saul. Having repented, mercy stood by David’s defense and beckoned him to comply. The honor of God stood in direct opposition to the honor of men here – including the honor of self. David chose for God in spite of overwhelming impressions of being forsaken of God. He chose the words of the Bible, “blessed is the man unto whom the Lord does not impute sin.” He stood on Truth and by mercy and truth the king was upheld. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.”
Fellows, did you acknowledge your sin before God, as in 1John 1:9? We have a promise of His faithful forgiveness of the sin, and total cleansing. Do you still carry the guilt? If so you are failing the grace of God, still sinning in unbelief. You are a candidate for God’s chastening, because of your new mental-attitude sin. You must be honest about this one too. Are you still living in regrets, anger or shame, poor self image or loss of identity? If you stay, you will turn bitter and many will be infected by it.
A believer must not fail grace, fall short of it, or quench it. We must take advantage of it, no matter what his or her inner-self may say. We must bite the bullet and be a man or woman of God, live in God’s appraisal and get up and go on. Others may appear to disagree and we may owe apologies, but we gotta forsake all subjective impressions and return to being the objects of God’s love. Return all the way, friends, reckon on it before you feel it, and don’t be sentimental with yourself.
In closing, if unsaved people do what we said above, they are proud and presumptuous. Our rights are based in a bloody sacrifice and our forgiveness was purchased in it. Jesus took all sin on His own body on a tree for us who believe. Paul said that “when I sin it is no longer I that sin but sin that dwelleth in me.” He recognized his identity was secure, though still responsible for maintenance of his soul. Let’s be strong in grace, swallow our pride, hold our heads up and go on. Fellow soldiers, we will honor God. Love ya
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