Friday, August 2 – 1 Chronicles 20, Psalm 32

1. Is there an area in my life where God has called me to a duty or responsibility, and I am running from it or staying away from it?

2. Am I in the posture of turning to God when I fail instead of running further away or trying to cover it up my way (which usually leads me to a worse situation)?

3. What area of my life do I need to place before God and ask Him to forgive and change to receive the blessedness of walking in His forgiveness and grace?

4. Does God accept murderers’ repentance? 2 Samuel 12:13

1 Chronicles 20 provides a condensed telling of what 1 Samuel 11 recounts concerning the story of David and Bathsheba. In 1 Chronicles 20, we’re brought into the springtime and told that it is “the time kings go out to battle,” giving us an insight into the yearly war seasons in the author’s day. The text takes a turn when it states, “Joab led out the armed forces… and besieged Rabbah… but David stayed at Jerusalem,” which gives us an almost word-for-word connection to what 1 Samuel 11 shares and what Samuel tells us led to David committing his infamous and egregious sin with Bathsheba.

It’s interesting to note that David neglected his kingly responsibilities (being out with his army during the war), which created a space for his wrongdoing to take place. This speaks to what can happen when we’re not about our “Father’s business,” in Jesus’ words (see Luke 2:49).

How often do we neglect the work that we should be doing and then find ourselves doing the work that we shouldn’t be doing? Like Paul’s words in Romans 7, “I do what I don’t want to do, but don’t do what I do want to do.” 1 Samuel gives us the context of the story and shares how David uses his position to bring Bathsheba, a married woman, to his palace and sleep with her, resulting in her becoming pregnant. Upon learning this, David calls her husband, Uriah, back from war (ironically, the place where David should have been) to have him sleep with his wife. He refuses after multiple attempts from David, and so David sends him to the frontline to be killed.

Psalm 32 contains David’s words, though not connected to this precise situation in 1 Chronicles 20 (see Psalm 51). However, they still align with how his heart felt after being confronted by Nathan.

David begins with a type of beatitude, sharing the blessedness that comes from being forgiven and the reality that “the Lord does not count [their sin] against them” (Psalm 32:2). He continues by sharing his repentance and acknowledgment of his sin and how he did not “cover-up” his iniquity. He boldly proclaims, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

This is the beauty of our two passages. Though we fail, sin, miss the mark, hurt others, and neglect our responsibilities, God is willing and able to forgive us.

1 John 1:9 reminds us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”