King David

Ya know, I just can't seem to shake the story of King David. Reading about him in the Old Testament is one of my favorites. But there is a part of his story that keeps bouncing around in my head. If you don't know, David was a man of God and was probably one of the best kings in history. He led at the time the most powerful nation in the world and yet loved God so much that he was willing to dance butt naked in the street praising His name. David's heart yearned to know God. But David was just like the rest of us, a sinner. David's life became a daytime soap opera when he got caught up with Bathsheba, slept with her while her husband was away at war, got her pregnant, tried to conceal the pregnancy by bringing her husband back from the war to have him sleep with her, had the husband sent the front lines so he would be killed when he wouldn't leave his men in the field and THEN when the righteous husband was killed, took Bathsheba as his wife who then had his son. I know that is a lot of stuff crammed into a very long run-on sentence, so you can catch up on all the details by reading 2 Samuel 11,12 in the Old Testament. But here is the kicker. All of this stuff did not sit well with God. The profit Nathan came in and busted David's chops about this and told him how displeased God was. But because David was repentant about his actions, and I mean really repentant, not just "Tiger Woods Sorry" that he got caught, God did not strike him down. However, God did punish David for what he did. David's son died because of his transgressions. Now on to my point. Sometimes I feel like David. Not the "Greatest King On Earth" stuff, or the cheating, conniving, murdering stuff, or even the dancing naked in the street stuff, but the, "I wonder if this is some sort of divine punishment for my past sins?" And then my mind gets all fuzzy and I say to myself, "There's no way. God wouldn't do that, He loves me and is just giving me a test to make me rely on Him for strength." And 9.5 times out of 10 I go with the second thought. And deep down I really believe that, but I still have visions of King David pleading with God. And in the end, God still used David in spite of his short-comings and I know He will use me with all of mine.