“Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.” Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So, Joab sent him to David. When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing. Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard. When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?” Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.” (2 Samuel 11:5-11 NLT)
One of my clients in a past job were experts in road and highway construction. The client also excelled in repairing roads and they had a special material that was used to provide their customers with a “perfect as you can get” result. Contrary to what we have seen during this time of the year where dodging potholes demands magnified vision, masterful driving skills and mental focus, in a season where a pothole that is covered up one day becomes a hazard once again the very next day or two, my client had a reputation for fixing up roads and not covering up pavement. The fix up was more costly and of course, demanded more investment of time for repair. But the fix up certainly beat the coverup.
In the text above, David tried to cover up his affair and impregnation of Bathsheba by having her husband Uriah come home from war and sleep with his wife. Devoted to his duties, when he came home, he did not sleep with Bathsheba. He did not, as the Scriptures says, “lie with his wife.” The cover up did not work. Not until David was approached by Nathan with a story used as a convicting teaching story, where he involved David in the analysis of the story, and after Nathan used those well know words, “You are the man,” did David move to a better remedy, the fix up. Read Psalm 51 where David says, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness; according to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”
Make no mistake about it, David had sinned against the Lord and had done evil in His sight. He is not excused from sinning. But neither is David exempted from an opportunity to benefit from God’s grace, mercy, and understanding. Yes, there were multiple consequences, but consequently because of his sincerity, David’s sin was blotted out and the Lord created in him a clean heart and renewed in him a steadfast spirit. The cover up did not work. (How are you going to keep your sins from the eyes of an all-seeing God?) The cover up did not result in a sincere pledge to do better. Yet, there was a better alternative to the cover up. What was better? The fix up, of course!
To use the analogy of the road construction company I alluded to in the introduction, we all need to invest the time and energy to fixing the potholes in our lives that are harmful to ourselves and to others. We all need to push aside any tendency to cover up, and then confess up, and thus get to where we experience the fix up. Survey your walk and your talk! Examine carefully, the potholes that are interfering with your sanctification. Don’t just fix up the big ones,but fix up the little ones too! For the little ones will expand and become big ones, if not attended to in a timely fashion. One more piece of advice. Use the best material available! Use the word of God to show forth quality workmanship as you fix up the potholes on your journey down the road called life. Today is Tuesday and you have some “road work” to do! That’s okay, we all do! But guess what? “It’s doable.” Paul put it this way: “I can do all things through Him show strengthens me.” Be blessed!
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”(I John 1:9 NLT)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King