Lenten Journey: Sin leads to Sin

"The thing that David had done displeased the Lord." 2 Samuel 12:1

King David-Part 3

After Saul dies, David becomes king. He is the greatest king that Israel ever had and from his line the Messiah will be born one thousand years later. He made his kingdom prosper and the people loved him. But he was human and like the majority of humans, all that power and success went to his head.

At a time when David should have been in the battlefield but was at the palace instead, "David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful" (2 Samuel 11:2). David already had at least seven wives. One would think that was enough for him. But he set his eyes on this beautiful woman and he had to have her.

David inquired about the woman and found out that her name was Bathsheba. But he also learned that she was married and that her husband was on the battlefield, where David should have been. But that did not deter him. He sent a messenger to bring her to him and he laid with her. And she became pregnant. 

The Bible truly is like a soap opera. It doesn't distort the sins of the characters to make them seem perfect. It tells each story like it happened, warts and all. So the perfect King of Israel wasn't that perfect after all. 

After King David finds out that Bathsheba is pregnant, he brings back her husband and tries unsuccessfully to get him to go home to lay with his wife so he would think that he was the one that got her pregnant. Bathsheba's husband was a man of honor. He did not think it was fair to be inside his house enjoying the comforts of his home and his wife when others were dying in war. So he remains outside the house. Since David couldn't convince him to go into his home, he conspired to kill the husband. The plan worked perfectly and the husband died.

So here we have what should have been God's perfect chosen one, an adulterer and a murderer. That's the way with sin.  What may originally seem like a small thing, then leads to a bigger one to cover the first one and so on. Sin has a paralyzing effect on our common sense. When we sin, we try to cover it up with yet another sin.

God was not pleased with David and He punished him by taking the baby that he had with Bathsheba. David repented of his sin, he asked God for forgiveness, he married Bathsheba and had four more children with her. One of these children would become very important in the history of salvation and from whose line the Messiah would be born.

God weaves His plans perfectly even though what He has to work with are a bunch of imperfect human beings. Be assured that He is weaving a perfect plan for each one of us in spite of our sinful nature. All we need to do is repent and return to the Lord. This weekend is "Reconciliation Weekend." If you are Catholic and have not received this sacrament in a while, I urge you to approach a church that is offering confession tonight or tomorrow. I promise you that you will feel light as a feather after all that weight is lifted from your heart. You will enter Holy Week filled with grace.