The story of David and Bathsheba sounds like the plot of a film or the script of a TV soap – lust, adultery, premarital pregnancy, murder, and cover-up. And it looked like David would get away with it – except for one important detail: ‘The thing that David had done displeased the Lord’ (2 Samuel 11:27 NKJV). In the Bible, God calls David ‘a man after his own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:14 NLT), but the same Bible says, ‘Be sure your sin will find you out’ (Numbers 32:23 KJV). So God sent the prophet Nathan to tell David, ‘I made you king…So why have you treated the word of God with brazen contempt?’ (2 Samuel 12:7, 9 MSG). Then God passed sentence: ‘Because you despised me…I am going to bring calamity on you…before all Israel’ (2 Samuel 12:10-12 NIV). From that day on, tragedy and turmoil plagued David’s family. The Bible says, ‘those who can’t be trusted are on the road to ruin’ (Proverbs 13:15 GNB). Sometimes God takes away our peace so that we'll acknowledge our sin. It took a whole catalogue of disappointments, difficulties, mistakes, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit before David’s heart softened and he admitted, ‘I have sinned against the Lord’ (2 Samuel 12:13 NIV). And when he prayed those words, God treated David’s sin the same way He treats ours: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9 KJV). As long as we carry on excusing, defending, and rationalising our sins, we can't move past them or begin to grow in our relationship with God. But as soon as we confess our sins to Him, in His grace He'll forgive us. 

What Now?

Do you need to confess something to God? Whether it’s big or small, if it’s on your mind and weighing you down, tell Him about it today.