Why, David?

"And the woman conceived, and sent and told David" (2Sam.11:5)

I've heard many people say that David's first mistake was that he wasn't were he was supposed to be (see 2Sam.11:1). Maybe they have a point. But then, we could say that mistake #2 was that he watched a woman bathing, mistake #3 that he asked about her, mistake #4 that even after hearing that she had a husband he sent for her. It's true, all of those were things that he shouldn't have done. But, if he had stopped at #4, then there would be no story. No, being at the wrong place, or lusting after, was his moment of downfall. It was the moment he slept with her. He could have turned back at anytime until that moment.

Making mistakes, being in the wrong places, don't help us. But they also are not the reason for our sins. We could simply have not done it. David could have stopped. But he didn't.

(Otherwise we get into the false argument that if something bad happens to a person they deserve it, because they had already been making some questionable choices.)

Yes, David's adultery was bad. But that decision leads to more troubling choices. After he does the nasty with Bath-sheba, David sends her home with hardly a good-bye. He intended to never see her again, just that one night of passion. And, when he hears that she is pregnant, he sends for Uriah and tries to get him to sleep with his wife. But poor Uriah! Out of honor he refuses to go enjoy home while Israel still fights. David even gets him drunk, but it won't work. Then, and this is unbelievable, David sends Uriah back unknowingly carrying the letter to Joab that holds his own death sentence. Even Joab thinks its pretty low. Lies and trickery, manipulation and unrighteous use of power.

Where did our David go? Where is the David whom God loved?

That's a good question. And, especially from our viewpoint, we can't really say. Maybe it was those series of bad decisions. Maybe war had changed him. Maybe kingly power had changed him. Maybe he was having a crisis of faith. We can't say. We can only say what David did. We can't judge.

But this, of course, is the set up. The real story is just starting. And I mean the story of David's search for redemption. Up until this moment, he has been the golden child, always favored of God, living an above-the-rules kind of life and not just getting away with it, but being rewarded for it. That lovable jock in high school that you knew was a great guy but deep down always kind of wished that he'd break a leg before the big game. We all make mistakes. We all need to be saved. Even David.