Bowing Before God's Providence (1)

I am currently reading a book called, "The Invisible Hand", written by R.C. Sproul. This book focuses on those issues and questions that arise with regard to God's providence. Yesterday at work, a co-worker saw me reading this book on our lunch break and it led us into conversation about his faith. He told me he had just started going to church and how he was trying to figure out everything in his life. He said that someone told him to read up on the story of David for whatever reason. It just so happened that the chapter I was reading in this book was telling the story of David. We talked and I shared the story with him which led to more questions and discussion but it was very good. I have decided to type out the story here because I feel we should all be like David in that in spite of his lapses, David usually wholeheartedly sought God's will and he didn't withdraw from the responsibilities of life.

Bowing Before God's Providence

David was stricken, assaulted in his conscience by the searing words of the prophet Nathan. Those words echoed in his ears and pierced his soul: "You are the man." What had begun as a report of egregious wrongdoing by a subject in his kingdom was suddenly turned on the king himself. David thought he was hearing an account of selfish exploitation by an unnamed perpetrator. He was unaware that he was listening to a thinly veiled parable of himself, a prophetic narrative aimed at the king's own conscience. It was a simple tale.

Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity." Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!"

A torrent of guilt swept over David. The parable hit home, striking his heart. His eyes were opened as he suddenly saw the truth about himself he had been so careful to conceal. This was David, the one who was known as a man after God's own heart. This was the champion of Israel, her greatest warrior. This was Israel's most illustrious king, the author of the psalms. He had ascended to the throne at the death of Saul, whom God had rejected as king over Israel. David was the Lord's anointed one who was elevated after the mighty had fallen. He rued the disgrace of Saul and chafed at the triumphalism of the Philistines who would publish the news in Gath and whose troubadours would gleefully sing, "O how the mighty have fallen."

Now David had joined the ranks of the fallen. His fall was great and is recorded for all posterity. He was living a Shakespearean style hero marred by fatal blemish, marked with an indelible scandal.

David's fall began with a simple thought, an inclination born of lust when he inadvertently spied a beautiful woman at her bath. He didn't start out with a scheme to commit adultery. He was not on the prowl for the first available paramour. One moment of lust had exploded into a compulsive passion. Then David threw righteousness to the wind and gambled his soul in exchange for illicit romance. He put his conscience on hold and hardened his own heart. The biblical record is as revealing of the heart of darkness that lurks in the chest of every man as it is terse:

"It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. Then she returned to her house." - 2 Samuel 11:2-4

David took another man's wife. Like the rich man in Nathan's parable, David helped himself to the ewe lamb of one of his trusted soldiers. Uriah was married to Bathsheba. Yet while Uriah was serving David with loyalty, David was taking liberties with Uriah's wife. Bathsheba became pregnant, and the child in her womb was not, indeed could not have been, fathered by Uriah.

to be continued . . . .