Year 1, Week 38, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 38, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 2 Samuel 12; 1 Chronicles 20; Psalm 32, 51.

Today’s reading involves two chapters that cover the same historical era. 2 Samuel 12 and 1 Chronicles 20, while paralleling each other in terms of timeframe, differ in terms of what events actually got recorded. 1 Chronicles 20 begins in a similar way to the start of the previous day’s reading: “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem” (1 Chronicles 20:1). But then the parallel account diverged as 2 Samuel 11:3-12:25 records David’s sins of lust, adultery, cover-up, and murder. While 1 Chronicles 20 records none of these matters, the chapter ends with an account similar to the ending of 2 Samuel 12, as they each note military battles. Two Psalms of David, Psalms 32 and 51, are also a part of today’s reading. The LORD revealed what David tried to conceal: “You are the man!…Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight?” (2 Samuel 12:7,9). Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 provide insight, not only to what was unfolding in David’s life while he hid his sin, but each Psalm also provides much insight as to how the LORD’s forgiveness impacts the human heart.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the LORD’s disclosure as to the effect that forgiveness has on the human soul: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1-2). David experienced a great relief lifted off him as he confessed his sin to the LORD: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). This relief was more than a mere therapeutic experience, it was the removal of the LORD’s hand of discipline: “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice…Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:8-12). As David was confronted and strongly rebuked by Nathan, David honesty acknowledged his sin, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Psalm 51:3-4). And while David’s sin wronged and hurt many people, David rightly admitted that the first wrong of his sin was Godward. But David’s confession and repentance cleared the way for David to receive forgiveness. Joy or extreme happiness is the emotion that describes the realization that sin can be pardoned: “Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Psalm 32:10-11).

Prior to David’s confession, note what had been occurring in David’s soul: “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4). David’s soul suffered greatly while hid his sin and refused to acknowledge it. Guilt, shame, and an afflicted conscience has its place of importance for these troubled realities are designed to awaken the soul to cry out to the LORD for relief: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:1-2). Even as he looked back on the posture of his heart during the time that he sinned and tried to conceal his sin, David acknowledged that his heart was stubborn and unteachable toward the LORD: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Psalm 32:8-9). David even went so far to acknowledge not only the sinful choices that he embraced, but also the sinful condition that he had since birth: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5).

In spite of his sinful choices and condition, David cries out to the LORD: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness” (Psalm 51:14). David is appealing to God—appealing to what the LORD had revealed about Himself: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6b-7a). David appealed to the God who forgives sin and yet does not clear the guilty. But David is guilty of the sins he is asking forgiveness for. How can that be done—how can sinners receive forgiveness while the guilty are not cleared? That answer is found in Jesus Christ, “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:25-26). Jesus, our substitute insures our pardon from sin for He took upon Himself the guilt of our sin. By taking our guilt, Jesus satisfies the justice in regard to our sin. Our guilt is not ignored; it is justly dealt with in the death of Jesus. Jesus displays the mercy of God and upholds the justice of God. Through faith in Jesus, our sins are pardoned and our guilt is cleared. 

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe