Inside Out Living

In our town, the paper has a section called News of Record, which reports every 911 incident and arrests or violations of the law. And when appropriate the names of those involved are listed in the paper. You would think that because people in this town know that they face public humiliation for breaking the law, even traffic laws, that they wouldn’t have much to print, however the section never seems to shrink.
So the thought occurred to me that merely knowing about the consequences of our actions is not sufficient to prevent us from engaging in destructive or sinful behavior. While it is true that knowledge of the consequences can be a strong deterrent, many of us will choose to sin in spite of those consequences.

God’s people diligently studied the Scriptures and knew about the warnings in Deuteronomy about the consequences they would face for covenant unfaithfulness, but that didn’t stop them from abandoning the Lord.

May you recognize the consequences of you actions before you are forced to endure them.

Before the invention of modern fire suppression systems it was required for a hotel of significant size to employ a watchman during the night hours to alert guests in the case of fire. One such hotel in Omaha, Nebraska had a fire on January 23, 1911 and the watchmen failed to notify the guests of the fire. Therefore, a guest who was forced to use a rope fire escape sued the hotel because of injuries resulting from his escape. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court where the court upheld the decision to hold the hotel responsible for its negligence in alerting the guests to the fire.

Ezekiel was given a similar charge by God, a responsibility to warn people of God’s judgment. It is important to note that Ezekiel wasn’t responsible for the peoples response to his warning, he was merely responsible, as the watchmen, for sounding the warning itself.

The same is true for our sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are not responsible for the consequences one faces for rejecting the gospel, but we are responsible for delivering the message.

Ever since the kingdom of Israel became divided under Rehoboam (1 Kings 12), the kings of both Israel and Judah led God’s people through a downward spiral of idolatry and disobedience. This had resulted in Israel no longer being a major player on the world political scene as it had been under David and Solomon. We see in Jeremiah 37 that the only relief Israel had from the Babylonians was when Egypt threatened to attack. While this gave Judah some hope, Jeremiah was quick to point out that trusting in Egypt was a false hope.

False hope can be quite devastating. As we see in the Old Testament, anytime God’s people trusted anyone or anything other than the Lord, it resulted in a false hope. I think this is a key lesson for us to glean from the Old Testament. Anytime we trust someone other than the Lord, including ourselves, for our salvation or for the strength to battle temptation, it will result in tragedy.

“Don’t be deceived, God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows “ (Galatians 6:7).

David loved the Lord, but he also made his share of mistakes. Even though he was quick to confess his sin, that did not remove the consequences for his sin (2 Samuel 12:14).

Now, from this point on, David’s kingship takes a downhill turn especially within his family. As is apparent from today’s reading, David was no longer in control of his sons and had failed to instill in them a fear of the Lord. David’s mistakes were catching up to him, not just his sin with Bathsheba, but other sins related to fathering and mentoring his sons were having an impact now.

Sin has real consequences. While we cannot blame our sin for everything in life, much of the pain and grief we experience results from our own sinful choices and actions. Are you living with the consequences of past sin? Pray and ask God for strength and wisdom to deal with those consequences appropriately.

“If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong” (1 John 1:9).

King David sinned. It wasn’t just a simple sin, but a messy one of lust, sexual immorality, deception and murder. It was the kind of thing that anyone would look at and agree was wrong. How is it that a man who did all of this can still be referred to as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) in the New Testament?

Confession.

David was not perfect and neither was Saul. However, the way that each responded to being confronted for their sins was markedly different. Saul was defensive and blaming others, but David responded with a soft heart and quickly confessed.

Practicing regular confession is a key element to a healthy relationship with Christ. How do you respond to the realization that you have erred in some way? Remember David’s words in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.”