2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verse 1

 We ended last chapter with the phrase, “But the thing that David had

done displeased the Lord.” When one of His does what is wrong, there

is no getting away with it. God sends someone to say something, or

something to say something! The response or defense of not knowing

(“Well, I didn’t know what I did was wrong or what I did hurt you”) is

never a good response to correction or confrontation. A better, more

mature, more realistic response is, “I am sorry,” or, “Tell me more,”

or ANYTHING that accepts accountability. Before this moment,

David KNEW what he had done was not in alignment with God!

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verse 2 – 4

 Sometimes we have to accept a different perspective to understand the

depth of our own actions. Actually, most of the time. Because we

settle into our own narrative and justification for all situations, and,

just like in this example, David is so caught up in his own perspective

that when given another, its shocking to him!

 Also, we see here that infidelity to a friend, in a marriage, breaking

someone’s trust, includes theft. It says here, “He took the poor man’s

lamb.” Know that when we choose dishonesty or choose to go this

route in our relationships, we are stealing from someone, taking

something from them that cannot be recovered. It’s a different

perspective for sure, but one that may make you think twice…

 Notice also one more thing…, lust is a traveler. Just like anger,

sadness, impatience, jealousy, these are all travelers. They show up,

they’re presence is seemingly everything, but given time, they move

on… What you do with them during their visit determines what you

look like after they’ve moved on…

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verses 5 – 6

 This is so rich! When the sin is not his own, look at his (rightful) anger

towards the aggressor! When the sin is his own, under the rug it goes!

When the sin is not his own, look at his (rightful) call for retribution,

“This must be repaid four-fold!” Taking an outside, another

perspective reveals to David that what he has done should not be

page-turned history! But that it must be made right!

 Notice too it’s not just what was done that he calls out. He calls out the

fact that the rich man had no pity! So often we apologize for the thing

we did and really don’t venture into the effect the thing had on the

other person. And in that, things stay broken. Even though a thousand

apologies and four lambs restored for the one…

 Totally missed when you stay in your own perspective. Totally not

missed when you take the time to connect with those that you’ve hurt

and ask them, even work to pull out of them, how it made them feel,

what it did to them…, meeting all of that with empathy and remorse

and overt commitment to a different future. THAT sets the broken

bone of trust and returns someone to close connection!

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verses 7 – 9

 I anointed you, I delivered you, I gave you, and I would have give you

much more! This is revealing because this shows me that every time I

steal from someone, every time I take something from someone,

whether it’s a moment of coldness, an interaction of indifference, or

some sort of blatant sin such as doing, choosing to do, what is wrong,

that at least an element of it (if not the core of it) is ingratitude towards

God for what He has already done for me!

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verse 10

 God takes this a bit personal, don’t you think? “You have despised

Me?” The word in the Hebrew for “despised” is, “worthless.” This

sin was done against God. David states that clearly in Psalm 51, and

when a sin is committed against a person, it worthlesses them. That is

why you have to take the time to connect personally, empathetically,

remorsefully with what it did to them with an overt commitment to a

different future in order to begin to rebuild the idea that they mean

something to you, which is to set the broken bone of trust and return

someone to close connection.

 This is superiorly interesting. David is a man after God’s own heart.

That is, when David is walking in the Spirit, his thinking he has

aligned to God’s thinking. He demanded of Nathan that the rich man

would be sentenced to pay four-fold for what he had done.

Interestingly, this is what God demands of David.

 David would pay fourfold in that Bathsheba’s son would die, Amnon

is murdered by Absolom, Absolom is killed by Joab and Adonijah is

killed by Benaiah under the direct orders of King Solomon!

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verses 11 – 12

 This is not God retaliating evil for evil. This is an entirely different

thing. Simply put, what could happen to David as a consequence of

his sin is going to happen. God’s hand of protection has been on

David since the sheep fields, AND, God also in His sovereignty

honors all free will. So, David is free to remain and he is free to go.

And the sure way to depart God’s protection, provision, and

prosperity, is to walk in the flesh, sow to the wind…

 We see the theme of God’s protection throughout the Bible. Isaiah

41:10 says, “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am

your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you

with My righteous right hand.” Erza 8:31 says, “We departed from the

river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to

Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us

from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road.” Just a

few examples…

 And just like that, God’s hand was sturdy upon David. However, God

says here, essentially, you despised My hand, you removed it from you

for your own sin, and so we read, “Behold, I will raise up adversity,”

which is a troublesome translation when the Hebrew quite literally

relays, “I will confirm rebellion against you from your own house…”

Which absolutely, as you probably know, happens to David…

 Why? He loses his moral authority. His sin is known, Solomon will

know his mom was married before David and what happened.

Absolom will know what his father did and they both will follow in

his footsteps. Absolom ends up taking David’s concubines on the

house-top of the palace, (the same place where David first encountered

Bathsheba), and abusing them in the sight of the sun…

 Would that have happened with God’s hand of protection against it

upon David? I submit to you that it would have not happened!

Because it would have been as it always was with David as his heart

went after God’s, victory after victory, glory to glory, just as David

said in Psalm 31:8, “You have not shut me up into the hand of the

enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place.”

 This is not God acting with evil upon David but rather God removing

His hand of protection and prosperity from David as a result of

David’s rebellion.

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verse 13

 THIS is why David is who David is… Not because he is perfect, not

because he isn’t capable of GREAT mistake, but because of his

extreme ownership in the moment! But, but, but, but…, she was

shooting a video on her roof! Uriah was no good for her! My multiple

wives weren’t taking care of me! What about YOU, Nathan, Mr.

Perfect! I guess you’ve never done anything wrong!

 NONE of that! No defense. No denial. No deflection. Only reality.

Only truth. And because David owns this, God’s hand motions back

upon him IMMEDIATELY and Nathan assures him of his life!

 Notice it’s not WE. It’s I! And what HE did is confessed here as not a

mistake, not an indiscretion, not a lapse, a stumble, an error…, He

confesses that it was sin, wrong in the eyes of God. His heart is right,

strong, mature, courageous, powerful and full of the character of the

best of us… His sin is forgiven by God just as soon as David faces it

and confesses it, and yet, even so, there is consequence…

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verses 14 - 15

 “Struck the child,” is better translated, “Surely, put to the worse the

child.” God removed His hand…

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verses 16 – 23

 David worships in the midst of a crisis. Truly a mark of one who is

great in faith… his actions prove his words. He knows that the child is

with the Lord and that He will be too one day, so he washes up and

worships.

 Notice he knows assuredly that the 7-day old child is with the Lord. 1

Corinthians 7:14 is an authoritative scripture on this subject and David

is indeed a believing dad so we can be sure that the child is with the

Lord, AND, I have leaned a bit since last teaching this towards a

somewhat more complete answer to the question about the age of

accountability.

 A few reasons why. First, indeed biblically provable, there is an age

where children cannot necessarily discern wrong from right. That age

varies by child for sure but it is present biblically. In Deuteronomy

1:39, God speaking about Israel going into the promised land says,

“Your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who

today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to

them I will give it…”

 God speaking to Jonah of the Ninevites in Jonah 4:11 says, “And

should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one

hundred and twenty thousand persons (children) who cannot discern

between their right hand and their left…” And finally, Jesus Himself

made a profound statement in Luke 18:16 saying, “Let the little

children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for such is the kingdom

of God.” Romans 2 is still authoritative and so is 1 Corinthians 7, but I

have leaned a bit to a Biblical theme that is clear that there is indeed

an age of accountability… And at 7 days old, David’s firstborn of

Bathsheba had not yet reached that age.

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verses 24 – 25

 The comforting, providing and prospering hand of the Lord

immediately returns upon the repentant king. This phrase that the Lord

loved Solomon does not imply that the Lord did not love the first-born

son. It cannot as that would entirely contradict scripture. Any time you

read something in scripture that seems to undermine or contradict

some other text int eh Bible, dig… God does not contradict Himself.

 Nathan apparently has the honor of announcing this heir to the throne

of David, a great honor, and Nathan calls him Jedidiah, meaning,

“Beloved of God.”

2 Samuel Chapter 12 Verses 26 – 31

 This seems a bit out of place in the context of the rest of the chapter

but its not. After a major defeat, with repentance, ownership,

accountability, taking the time and care to set the bone as we’ve

discussed, God gets you right back to winning. Even reminding you of

people in your life that are good, for you to look to even to be more

like, giving you a future and a hope.

 God returns David back to winning quite immediately. Proverbs 24:16,

“For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again!” That

implies immediate rise! It is not God’s desire, direction or disposition

for anyone that has sinned to stay face down, broken, fallen but to rise

very very quickly through accountability and determination for a

different future for yourself. Just look at Jesus! ALL the sin of the

world combined for all time upon Him, and He only stayed down three

days! Get back to winning ASAP now that you know the process!