Day 4: David, the Guilty

When you hear of King David in the Bible, you may think of David and Goliath where God directed the stone from David’s sling to kill a giant. Perhaps you may think of David as a gifted musician who wrote many of the Psalms, or even David, “a man after God’s own heart.” While David was all of these things, the truth is he was also an adulterer and a murderer.

You can read the whole story in 2 Samuel 11, where David kills Uriah to cover up his wrongdoing with Bathsheba. When confronted with his grave sins by the prophet Nathan, David tore his clothes, wept, and repented. He turned to God for forgiveness.

Many of us may feel that we have messed up our lives so badly that there is no redeeming it for God. If we do not know Him, we may think, “I need to clean up my life before God would want anything to do with me.” That is a lie straight from the enemy. The Bible says clearly, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Whether we have sinned one time or one million times, Christ’s death and resurrection covers them all if we would only put our trust in Him, and Him alone.

And if we are already walking with Christ, we may find our situation to be similar to King David’s. We may have unconfessed sins or choices we have made that make us feel very far from God. We may have distanced ourselves from Him thinking, “God couldn’t possibly love me after all I have done.” Well, let me tell you what the Bible says about that as well!

In Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul writes, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” You are not too far gone. God’s love for you is so great, it is perhaps impossible to fathom. Run to the Father. Confess your sins. When you do, He is “faithful and just and will forgive [your] sins and purify [you] from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

David, the sinner, was named in Jesus’ genealogy. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God, but Jesus has made a way for us to be forgiven. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a friend we have in Jesus, Savior of the broken and guilty. Let me urge you today—turn your eyes upon Jesus.

“Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave: Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save!”
Good Christian Men, Rejoice