2 Samuel 12:13-18 – The Forgiveness That Finds Us
When David’s day of reckoning comes, he doesn’t run from the light. He doesn’t make excuses. He doesn’t just accept part of the blame. But he says, v13: ‘I have sinned against the LORD’. Such a simple confession. And Nathan responds: ‘The LORD also has put away your sin’. And that’s it. It’s almost an anti-climax! It seems too easy! We want more than that. We want David to wallow in his guilt. We want to see him in anguish. We want to see him agonise over the possibility of pardon, as if we could somehow merit God’s forgiveness by the intensity of our repentance. But the important thing isn’t the outward emotion of David’s repentance. The important thing is that he genuinely repents. That’s not to say that David was emotionless. Among other things, he must have had a huge sense of relief surging through him to be able to confess something that had been eating away at him for so long. But actually the simplicity of his repentance is more a sign of the reality of it, than a sign that there’s something missing. David repented without trying to play down what he’d done or make excuses for it.
Perhaps you know someone putting off becoming a Christian because they think they need to work up the right emotional temperature. Or because just saying a simple prayer like David’s sounds too easy. But it’s not about our effort. It’s about God’s grace. So if you want to become a Christian, there is no hard thing you must do. Simply say like David: ‘I have sinned against the LORD’. You can tell God that you’ve sinned against him, and ask him to forgive you. And he will.
But, we think: surely David has to do something? Surely it’s not fair that he escapes death? After all, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Are we saying that all David has to do is pray a prayer, and he escapes death? No. Not at all! Because a death still had to happen. In order for David to be forgiven, Jesus had to die. In order for you to be forgiven, Jesus had to die. We can never think that forgiveness is cheap if we look at the cross. Although David’s infant son dies in this chapter as a direct consequence of David’s sin, the boy’s death doesn’t make atonement. Only the death of Jesus can do that.
Question
- What must we do to be forgiven?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks for the gift of forgiveness through Christ.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.