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Your mistakes do not define you
CALL TO PRAYER
Date: 10/07/2021
By: Owusu Clifford S.
Title – Your mistakes do not define you
2nd Samuel 12:13 – David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die (ESV)
As Christians, we have read about the lives and the demonstration of Christian attributes by some great personalities in the Bible. Abraham can be described as the father of faith and obedience, for the Bible testifies that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). The life of Sampson indicates a spirit-filled demonstration of strength in battles. David is synonymous with praise and worship as can be seen from the Book of Psalms, and a man who easily accepted his flaws and made an instant plea for forgiveness. Also, when the life of Elijah comes to mind nobody can forget the great demonstration of power and miracles. A man who could pray to shut the heavens (1st Kings 17:1) and pray again to avert this and call for rain (1st Kings 18:41). These were men who demonstrated incredible faith and supernatural power on different occasions which sometimes make us wonder if they were just ordinary men. However, on numerous occasions, the Bible brings to light the various moments of weaknesses in these great men.
The uniqueness of the Bible stems from the fact that it does not hide the shortfalls of great personalities. These are men we look up to in our generation and they are role models for all Christians. Nevertheless, the Bible did not hide some of their key moments of weakness. The Bible is not any novel or ordinary storybook that will paint the picture of a protagonist as “the perfect gentleman” who was without flaws. Even when Jesus Christ, our saviour, was troubled in His soul knowing that the task ahead (death on the cross) was a herculean one that required fortification, the Bible brought it to light. Matthew 26:39 reads: “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will”. Today’s Call to Prayer will look at King David, his key moment of weakness, and what can be learnt from it as children of God.
David was a man who had a heart of gratitude, mostly due to the knowledge of who he was and where he came from, and how God had blessed him. On numerous, occasions God delivered him from the hands of his pursuers and granted him victory in the many battles he fought. For these reasons, he always showed gratitude and reverence to God and most of the Psalms that he wrote are evident in that sense. David was a man God described as being after His own heart (1st Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). He followed the statutes and ordinances of God. For this, God described him as the one who fulfilled His will. Any king in Judah who followed the laws and ordinances of God was often likened to David.
Despite all these incredible feats David achieved, he was the one the personalities in the Bible who committed one of the wicked crimes. This began at the glance of the nakedness of a woman (2nd Samuel 11:2). In 2nd Samuel 12:1-14, the prophet Nathan rebuked David for sleeping with Bathsheba and killing Uriah. Now from David’s reaction to the parable told by the Prophet, we can see one David with two different characters. The first David; one who at the sight of a naked woman could not control himself but slept with her and later masterminded the death of her husband, and the latter David; the one who realised that taking from a poor man the only thing he has when you have many, is an act that deserves punishment. Someone would ask, so could not David have acted as in the second instance and realised that what he was planning was evil and desist from it when he saw the woman bathing? Well, in a moment of weakness, you can do things that you may regret forever. Sometimes you would wonder how it happened, but it had already happened.
The emphasis of this message is that we can all fall as children of God in our moments of weakness if we are not vigilant of the schemes of the enemy. But, most importantly is the fact that we can rise from our flaws and mistakes and God is ever willing to forgive and accept us back as His children. Despite all these, God declared David as a man after His own heart.
Sometimes when some great men of God make mistakes, people, especially Christians, are too quick to judge and draw conclusions. Yes, he is a man of God, but he was a man before becoming a man of God, and under the Sun any individual can fall at any time if he/she is not vigilant and steadfast. It is even more dangerous for Christians as the devil is always looking for a loophole to capitalise on.
Nobody can determine for God how He should deal with someone in the person’s darkest moments. God looks at the heart of men; something most people do not see. The New Living Translation captures Psalm 51:17 in this manner: “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God”. This was the heart King David possessed. Though God punished him for the sin he committed (2nd Samuel 12:10-12), and the judgement God proclaimed on him came to pass, yet God spared his life when he pleaded and repented (2nd Samuel 12:13).
Today, David is known for the incredible heart that he possessed, not the mistakes he made. Even when Solomon turned away from God (1st Kings 11) and God decided to take the kingship away from him, God promised to give ten tribes to Jeroboam but still leave one tribe for Solomon, for the sake David, whom God declared walked in His ways and obeyed His rules and statutes (1st Kings 11:38).
It is only in human ideologies, principles, and precepts that one wrong done by a person overrides every good thing that he has done. But God does not look at situations in that manner as was in the case of David. King David was a man just like any other individual on this earth. He demonstrated incredible power and faith on countless occasions. Yet, in his weakest moment, his actions were contrary and wayward. However, his mistakes did not define and change how God sees him. Do not be quick to judge people, especially those that have been called by God. Remember, they are men just like you and me.
Prayer: Let us pray and thank God for His word today. Let us also pray for the grace and strength to be watchful at all times, and also pray for mercy for any true believer that has fallen so that they can rise on their feet again.
God bless you all!
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