Why Did God Do That? Discovering God’s Goodness in the Hard Passages of ScriptureSample

Many who encounter the Bible think the purpose of its stories is to provide textbook examples of moral living by faithful people whose lives we should copy. This is mostly false, yet many church sermons mistakenly use the Bible in this way. We’re told, “We need to be more like Abraham, more like Moses, more like David, more like Solomon!” These kinds of sermons should be handled with care lest we back ourselves into a corner when our “moral heroes” display their faults.

This isn’t to say there aren’t moral takeaways we can learn from these individuals. But these stories are, first and foremost, about God. God is the one who saves the day.God is the one who never fails. God is the one who shows kindness to those who don’t deserve it—people like you and me.

We shouldn’t determine morality based on studying flawed people in the Bible. Rather, we should look to the explicit moral commandments of Scripture. When biblical characters like David are seen following those guidelines, we can commend them. But when we read about people trying to honor God and falling flat on their faces, we can relate to their struggles and thank God for showing us mercy through his steadfast love (Psalm 51:1).

As we look deeper into Scripture, we can begin to understand more about why God chooses certain people for great deeds despite their flawed lives. We read in 1 Samuel 16:7 that “the LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” God saw something in the heart of David that was not visible to human perception. On that basis, he chose David as the king of Israel, through whose lineage he would bring Christ into the world.

As we've already noted, David sinned grievously, committing adultery with the wife of Uriah, one of his most loyal soldiers. When it became apparent that she was pregnant, David had Uriah killed so that he could marry his wife and hide his sin. It is natural for us to assume that God would at least remove David from his throne, if not slay him. Yet God allowed David to live and remain king.

What are we to make of this? We find the answer when we discover what it means that God "looks upon the heart” of those he chooses.

God doesn't choose perfect people. They don't exist in our fallen world. But God knew that David was determined to love God. This eagerness is revealed in 2 Samuel 12 when Nathan, a prophet, confronted David on his grievous sins.

David's response: He immediately owned his sins and sought God's forgiveness. This was the kind of man God was looking for to be king—not a man of moral perfection, but a man who set God’s standard of behavior as his goal. And when he failed, he displayed enough backbone to confess his sin and seek forgiveness.

If any thought lingers that God might have gone too easy on David or that God’s continued acceptance of David implied he had turned a blind eye to his sin, reading about the punishments God imposed on David removes all doubt. As Nathan the prophet told David:

"From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. This is what the LORD says: 'Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel' … the LORD has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the LORD by doing this, your child will die" (2 Samuel 12:10-14).

God accepted and spared David despite his grievous failures because God's deep love embraces those who love him and repent of their sins. But the Scriptures make clear that in accepting David and his contrite heart of repentance, God did not for one millisecond condone or accept David's sin.