History or a Mystery

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Dion Todd February 15, 2016 - Filed in Devotional - 10,880 views
  Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Don't throw me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. Psalms 51:10 WEB
  
  David had an affair with Bathsheba and she became pregnant. In order to cover it up, he had her husband, Uriah, killed and then later married Bathsheba. A noble act, taking in a poor widow carrying another man's child, except she wasn't.
  
  A year quietly passed by and Bathsheba had a son. One day, Nathan the prophet came to David and told him a parable about a rich man that had many sheep. When a visitor came to his house, instead of taking one of his own sheep to prepare for dinner, he sent for the only pet lamb that a poor man had nearby. He had raised it as his daughter and it slept in his arms. The rich man took it away and ate it for dinner.
  
  David burned with anger when he heard the story and said 'That man deserves to die!' Nathan told him: 'You are the man!' That had to hurt, to be confronted with all that he had so carefully hidden, but it was the beginning of restoration.
  
  David said that his sin was always before him. He repented of what he had done and his prayer is recorded in Psalm 51. In verse 12, David asked God to restore the joy. Joy was one of the first things that left, the joy of serving the Lord. Nothing is hidden from God and He gives us space to repent.
  
  When we mess up, it is best to get it over with immediately, before it festers like a sore. Stand up and say, "I am the one!" instead of waiting for God to confront us with it and walk joyless and depressed the whole time. If you ask God, He will forgive you, and the mistake becomes history, rather than a mystery of what may later become of it.
  
  Prayer: Father, I thank You for Your mercy. You are long suffering and understanding. I am sorry for the times that I have let You down and chosen my way over Yours. Forgive me, restore me, and help me live my life for You, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.