The Longing in Me: A Study on the Life of DavidSample

Longing for God's Grace

God’s love is never based on our behavior, good or bad. It’s always been based on His nature. Understanding that kind of grace is the work of God in our lives, and we each walk our own journey to understanding it. In my own life, I realized I’d been coming to God with hands full of things I’d done for him for years. It was an exhausting, punishing way to live. Ultimately, it became clear to me that I had no rights as a believer. I was a sinner saved by grace, called to live a surrendered life.

It’s amazing how sometimes God takes you through a dark, confining place before you are able to be set free by seeing the light. I’m talking about seeing reality and accepting the consequences of the impact of your actions on those around you. King David experienced this. He was by now a powerful king, and he had carried out the sin he had committed against Uriah and Bathsheba mostly in secret.

Yet David’s sin had clouded who he was. He was no longer the one who sat under the stars praising God for divine protection in dark and lonely places. This king was a liar playing damage control with his life and the lives of others. But what was really going on inside his heart? We find out almost a year later when the prophet Nathan confronts David by telling a story that helps the king confront his sin. David finally acknowledged his sin and was heartbroken over what he had done.

After Nathan reminded David of the lavish kindness and faithfulness God had shown, he described the drastic consequences of David’s sin. David’s response? “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13 ESV). That’s it. That’s his whole response. No rationalizing or trying to blame others. David understood the one he had greatly sinned against was the Lord. Had he wronged others? Absolutely. But God felt the weight of his sin most acutely.

There were serious consequences for David’s sin. The baby born to David and Bathsheba would die. David shed many tears over this loss, but eventually redemption bloomed with the birth of his son Solomon.

In this we see it is the mercy of God that allows us to feel the impact of our sin. Until we fully understand the weight of our sin, we can’t truly celebrate the beauty of our costly redemption through God’s grace. Until we feel that weight, we hold onto sin. Grace is amazing, as the song goes, but it doesn’t erase the effects of our deliberate sin. Yet the pain of these consequences serves a purpose when we turn to God in repentance. We have real hope and wisdom to offer to those who come after us.

God is so much bigger than our past. He is so much more merciful than our sin. He is so much stronger than our weakest moment. His plans for us are so much greater than our failures. He is for us. Always for us! He restores us so you can walk from that renewed place and share our story with others who are broken. It’s a message this world is longing to hear. And when we’ve been shown that kind of grace, we can’t wait to share it with others.

Respond

How would you describe the beginning of your journey to understand grace—the point at which you knew grace was for you and you needed it? How would you characterize the condition of grace in your life right now?

How would you characterize the heart that embraces grace versus the heart that refuses it? In what relationships, circumstances, or struggles are you most aware of your need for God to bring about or enable you to do something you cannot do on your own?

How would you describe what it means that God is for you? How has God shown his compassion and loving faithfulness specifically to you?