Delayed Consequences and the Price of Sin

The Chronological Bible reading this morning was the story of the rape of Tamar and the subsequent destruction that followed. As I read it, I considered writing about pulling weeds in my garden instead. (Yes. My own weeds were out of control. It took lots of weeding to get rid of them.) Weeds could symbolize the sin in our hearts. Pulling them out could symbolize repentance. It would work, I thought.

Pulling the weeds of sin out of our hearts is critical, because sin left to fester leads to action, often with catastrophic results.

David "took" Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. He let unbridled desire drive his actions. Lust turned to adultery which led to murder. 

As one of the consequences of his sin, Nathan brought a pronouncement from God. Evil would come against David from within his own house. The sword would never leave his house. 

Perhaps David was like a lot of us. Time went by. Nothing happened. He probably thought he'd gotten away unscathed, or relatively so. 

When he least expected it, his world began to unravel. It seemed as if a runaway freight train of disaster was barreling through his family.

David had a beautiful daughter named Tamar and a lust-filled son (Tamar's half-brother) named Amnon, who desired her. There were legal ways he could have had her as his life-long wife, but that was not what he wanted. He didn't want a delay or a commitment. He wanted desire fulfilled and nothing more.

Amnon tricked David into allowing Tamar to come to his house. He made an opportunity to get her alone, raped her, sent her out in disgrace, and refused to accept his responsibility to her.

Whether David saw Amnon's actions as similar to his own in taking Bathsheba is not known. David was "very angry" but he did nothing. 

Absalom was Tamar's brother. He was in a rage, too, and he would not be denied of his revenge. He took Tamar into his home and plotted vengeance. 

Two years went past. Amnon probably thought he had gotten away with his sin. Seemingly out of the blue, Absalom's plot unfolded. He killed Amnon with all David's other sons looking on. Absalom went a long way before reaping his own consequences for his actions. 

Newton's third low of motion says, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." In a way, we could make a similar law about sin. Amnon's lust and sin triggered an equally intense hate and sin in Absalom. His sin triggered equally intense reaction in Joab.

Every sin has a consequence, and it is not usually one we like. That could be a law of sin-motion, too.

My grandmother used to say, "Your sin will find you out." I'm not sure about that wording, but even forgiven sin has a price.

This morning, I'm remembering the hours I spent weeding my garden yesterday and wishing David had pulled the weed of sin out of his heart before he took Bathsheba. Wishing Amnon had pulled the weed of lust out of his heart before he raped Tamar. Wishing Absalom had pulled the sin of hate out of his heart before he murdered Amnon. On and on.

But what about the weeds of sin in my heart? In your heart? Our sin, if left unchecked, will lead to action. That sin-action will lead to consequences, all too often in the lives of our children. 

My own sin has left more than enough destruction behind. Hasn't yours? Let's take a close look at our hearts today and ask God to help us remove every weed of sin that's growing there, before they bring forth costly action.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10 nasb

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In case you missed it, here's the link for yesterday's post: Safest in the Battle. (http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2016/04/safest-in-battle.html)

There is still time to join the Hosea Bible study. The assignment this week is to read the intro (found at http://lessonsindiscipleship.blogspot.com) and read quickly through the book of Hosea for an overview. The first weekly lesson will be posted on the new blog site on May 1. It's deep. It's intense. It's worth it.

#consequences #sinhasaprice #disciple

A Heart Like King David's

Yesterday, I wrote about David's mighty men of valor from Zebulun and their undivided heart. The issue of an undivided heart has been on my mind ever since, so I thought we'd look at David's heart today.

You probably remember the story from 1 Chronicles 17 of David's desire to build God a house. (Leanna Paraphrase coming up) "That's an admirable thought, David, but I don't need you to build Me a house. Instead, I'll build you a house. A house of descendants that will never end. A throne and kingdom that last forever." 

David was speechless for a few minutes.

"I brought you out of the fields and made you the man you are, David. I've put you in this place."

Finally, David sat before the Lord and worshipped. "Who am I, God, that you would bother with me at all?"

Even when David was king, he remembered the fields. He remembered his days as a shepherd boy. Even when he was old, David was a shepherd at heart. Did he make terrible mistakes? Yes. He did. We all do. He made mistakes and he suffered for them, but he always found his way back to his Heavenly Father.

David understood who he was (and who he was not) in relation to the awesomeness of Almighty God. 

He understood who God was, too, and he loved Him.

David wanted to do something huge for God, build a temple of gold for Him. 

What he didn't quite see was that sitting before God in worship and humility WAS something huge. 

Giving God credit for all He did WAS something huge.

Shepherding His people with God's own heart WAS something huge.

Following God into battle against His enemies, when he was a poet at heart, WAS something huge.

Loving Him without reservation, dancing before Him in the street without self-consciousness, WAS something huge.

David loved the Lord His God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength and it was huge. All-consuming. 

He fought for the Lord and His people and wrote poems and songs while he did it. His was a heart that worshipped all the time. 

His mind was set on God.

How do we have a David heart? We do what David did. When he took spoils of gold and silver and bronze, he dedicated it to the Lord. David had a house of cedar. The gold he collected was for God's house.

He didn't allow his eyes to linger on the riches of this world. Instead, he put them on God alone. 

If we put our eyes on God alone, if we focus on seeing people and things the way God sees them, treating them like He says, we'll begin to have a heart like David's. 

An undivided heart.

And that's the best heart of all.

Today, let's take our eyes off the things of this world and focus them on God. We sang this song by Helen Lemmel (1922) when I was a child, and the words are still true today. 

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Look full in His wonderful face;

and the things of earth will grow strangely dim 

in the light of his glory and grace." 

(Helen Lemmel 1922 -public domain)

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In case you missed the post yesterday, here's the link: Zebulun's Undivided Heart Helped Change a Nation

And here's the link to an indepth look at loving with our whole heart: Loving with our whole hearts
#undividedheart #goodSunday #kingdavid

Lessons from the battlefield #1: Warrior Positions

2 Samuel 11:1

King David was one of the most amazing men who ever lived.  He was handsome and strong.  Although he was a fierce warrior, he wrote some of the most beautiful poetry ever written.  He also made one big mess of his life when he sinned with Bathsheba.  

How could someone described as a man after God’s own heart wind up in such a dreadful series of events?  The answer lies in the last five words of verse 1. 

“But David stayed at Jerusalem.”

When he should have been taking care of business, he was taking it easy, and he became an easy prey for temptation.  It might have seemed as if he was making a prudent choice by sending others to fight.  After all, he was Israel’s beloved king and had to be protected at all costs.  He found, however, that the safest place for a warrior is not relaxing on the rooftop.  The safest place for a warrior is in the midst of the battle – the midst of God’s battle.  

Are you weary?  Do you feel as if you’d rather “relax on the rooftop” than wade into the heat of spiritual warfare?  Don’t give up and don’t despair.  The safest place you can be is right where God has called you to be. There is no doubt that most of us will experience battles and difficulties in our Christian walk.  There will undoubtedly be times when we feel like turning aside from the struggle.  When discouragement threatens, remember we are not fighting alone.  As David faced Goliath, he spoke the truth that sustained him in all his battles.  “The battle is the Lord’s.” (1 Samuel 17:47) 

Our job is to engage in armed battle with the only weapon we need – the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, but remember, this battle we are fighting belongs to Him. Our Lord is able to handle every difficulty we face, including every tremendous struggle we encounter, so take heart.  Regardless of how fierce the fighting, the battle belongs to the Lord, and He is able to deliver.