Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh. Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. A traveler came to the rich man, and he didn’t want to take of his own flock and of his own herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” David’s anger burned hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As Yahweh lives, the man who has done this deserves to die! He must restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity!” Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that would have been too little, I would have added to you many more such things. Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your wife.’ “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.”
(2 Samuel 8:1-8)

“Against you, and you only, I have sinned,
    and done that which is evil in your sight,
so you may be proved right when you speak,
    and justified when you judge.
Behold, I was born in iniquity.
    My mother conceived me in sin.
Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.
    You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.
    Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness,
    that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all of my iniquities.”
(Psalm 51:4-9)

David sinned. Adultery. Murder. Deceit. All because he saw a woman from his palace and chose to embrace his lust for her, instead of what was right. She wasn’t flaunting herself. He was peeking through windows. He chose a course of action and didn’t deviate from it when it got complicated. He doubled-down and continued in the wrong. But when Nathan gave the message from the Lord, David made no excuses. He didn’t blame anyone else. He immediately and whole-heartedly admitted his error and his need to get right with God. He didn’t wait. He didn’t let it slide. Repentance was the ONLY thing on his mind.

David felt about sin the same way a person who has leprosy feels about the disease. He hated it and could not wait to be rid of it. David was QUICK to repent. He didn’t do it in half-measures. He completely submitted himself to God’s will. When he stepped wrong, he chose to accept what God said about it and step right again. He wasn’t a repeat felon – when he did wrong, he didn’t repeat it. Yes, he still dealt with the consequences of his actions. Yes, he still had to retrain himself and learn to see things like God saw them. But he didn’t delay the process. Once He knew God’s mind, he didn’t rest until he shared that mindset.

Summary

We are redeemed and made into new creatures in and through Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). We have Jesus’ own nature and we are no longer capable of sinning automatically (1 John 3:9). That means every sin is a choice. We choose not to use self-control. We choose not to utilize the Fruit He gave us to grow in our hearts. We choose not to apply what we read in the Word. We choose not to trust in Jesus. We choose not to look to God as our Source. We choose to put what we want and take what we feel and make that the basis of our thoughts, words, and actions. It is NEVER by accident or because we have a sinful nature. We USED TO HAVE a sinful nature, but now we are born anew. The GREAT news is that repentance is ALSO A CHOICE. And we, like David, can choose to engage it as soon as we know we stepped wrong. This isn’t a license to sin again and again. This is a calling to repent of wrongdoing whenever we find we have done it and study God’s Word until we have His point of view on it so that we will never repeat that sin again. If we do this continually and consistently, we will sin less and less and less, until we are standing before the Throne and perfected in Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18).