READING: 2 Samuel 12-13, Luke 26-56
It’s a tough lesson to learn, but it’s an important one: God forgives us for our sin when we turn to Him in repentance, but that forgiveness doesn’t mean that the consequences of our sin are automatically erased. In many cases, the repercussions of our wrong choices remain even after we’ve received God’s mercy.
King David learned that lesson the hard way. In two verses of 2 Samuel 12, we learn of David’s confession of his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, God’s granting him forgiveness, and then God’s judgment for his sin: “David responded to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Then Nathan replied to David, ‘And the Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die.However, because you treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die’” (2 Sam. 12:13-14). Surely the first word from Nathan was a good one for David—God forgave him and chose not to exact on him the penalty of death for being an adulterer and murderer. The compassion of the Lord for him was undeniable, indeed.
The second word must have been incredibly difficult, though—the son of David and Bathsheba would not live. David’s forgiven sin still brought death to his son and grief to his home. All of us must remember that our sin affects us and others—sometimes, even our sins that God has forgiven.
PRAYER: “Help me, God, to remember that my sinful choices carry consequences.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Samuel 14-15, Luke 24:1-35