Consequences

If a person was to stand at the edge of a cliff and jump off, it's likely that on the way down, he is sorry for his bad choice. He may even have a "God moment" asking God to forgive his wrongs. Forgiveness is as short as a split-second because God already knows the heart! Surely the man who is in despair and jumps off a cliff is remorseful about jumping.

With remorse and confession (even half way down) God understands human emotions. God became as we are and feels what we feel. When he stood up to the devil's temptation, it wasn't easy, but it WAS possible! Jesus had the wherewithal to resist when mere humans most often do not!

Although God forgives our "jumping off the cliff" and we are free from that wrongdoing, what happens next? Sure God can save our wretched life and we can live happily ever after. He actually does that! Miracles do happen! However, he's not concerned about whether our heart beats or not, but his concern is  about where our soul resides for eternity! While men seek first to protect their life, God's role is to save souls!

On the other hand, most people suffer the consequences of their wrongs. While the jumper may have a clear heart before he hits the ground, he still most often suffers the consequences! He will hit the ground and hurt and may possibly even die in spite of repentance. Consequences do happen! The best example of this is David.

Stop right now and read 2 Samuel Chapters 11 & 12. David sinned in many ways!

• While his armies were off fighting David stayed home. The custom was for the kings to lead. David stayed back because that was part of Satan's plan to undermine him. David was anointed by God. As such he became a "project" of Satan; to undermine God by defeating David.
• David was on the roof. He exposed himself to temptation. We don't know why for sure that he was on the roof, but Satan caused him to be there.
• David saw Bathsheba on an adjacent roof washing herself naked. She was beautiful and pleasing to look at. The serpent was setting David up for failure. Bathsheba was just as The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil". David was not to eat of that tree, so to speak, or as Eve added "not to touch it either". This is the process Satan always uses to temptation even on the righteous. He knows our weakness and it's always the same; to have pleasure for our own  satisfaction. David had a choice here. He could have turned around. He didn't. That's when sin entered in. He had yet to sin, but he allowed temptation to further itself.  We now know David's problem: Proverbs 6:25 (ESV) "Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes; 26 for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread,  but a married woman hunts down a precious life." Bathsheba was bathing on the roof because Satan caused her to be there! She was naked for David because that was Satan's plan to defeat a righteous person! It seems that Bathsheba's motives weren't so pure themselves because she could have thought about onlookers and those who might see her inadvertently.  She did this because Satan used her and she allowed herself to be used!
• David asked about her and found out who she was and that she was married. At this point Satan deceived David into action. David knew what he was about to do! He proceeded to implement Satan's plan because he was weak. Satan can always find that weak spot.
• David developed a plan to implement his sin.
• David committed the sin of which he previously only imagined. However, because he had already lusted in his heart, the sin was already committed before he did it. (Matthew 5:28). However, if David had turned around and walked away, and repented his lust, he would have been forgiven. David ignored the guilt that he surely felt and had sex with Bathsheba, a married woman. It wasn't Bathsheba which he sinned against, but God (Psalm 51:4)!
• Consequence: A bastard child was conceived. Panic sets in. It's obvious that the husband could not be the father. Things are starting to go wrong. Satan begins to throw real life at David. Satan encourages David to sin further to get in deeper.
• David recalled the husband Uriah from the battlefield to make it appear that he was the real father. Uriah remained dutiful and David's cover-up was foiled. A consequence! The cover-up failed.
• David planned a more severe cover-up. He rationalized in his head that if he set Uriah up he would die in battle. Satan's plan proceeds. Temptation leads to sin and one sin leads to another! 
• Uriah dies in battle. David murdered Uriah in his mind when he planned it. Now he becomes a murderer in actuality. One sin to cover another is a consequence of the first sin! If David had never committed adultery, murder would not have been an option! (Satan smiles. His plan is working better than he thought!)
• Bathsheba mourned for Uriah at his death. This is a consequence for her.
• David and Bathsheba married. Bathsheba committed adultery. That is a consequence and another sin. (Satan still smiles!)
• An illegitimate child is conceived. (Another consequence).
• Nathan confronted David with a parable. God instigated this! God doesn't give up on sinners who fail. That's because he understands our weakness, loves us and has the grace to provide redemption.
• David indicted himself unknowingly. When he realized that he judged another harshly which turned out to be him, he felt sorrow. He felt guilty! Guilt is an emotion of the Holy Spirit to bring sinners to repentance. We've all felt the pangs of guilt. Thank God for that! It makes weak humans contrite. Guilt is a consequence of sin and unless remedied by confession, it can make one sick.
• A consequence from God as punishment was that the House of David would always be at war. Yes, God can allow consequences. It's a teaching method to weaken further fall to temptations.
• God allowed some of David's other wives to commit adultery against David. (He knew their hearts in advance. God didn't cause them to sin, but he allowed David to suffer the consequences).
• All the kingdom saw David's shame when his wives were unfaithful. That disgraced David. This was a consequence of sin.
• The illegitimate child became sick and died. Another consequence David suffered.
• David wept and hurt because of the death. Emotional pain is a consequence of sin.
• David felt remorse and got right with God. He learned his lesson and became a man after God's own heart! 

Let's look at David's remorse. It is lengthy, but important. It follows in it's entirety!

Psalm 51:1 "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

David was contrite. He felt sorrow for his sin against God. He didn't care about what others thought about him, but suffered because he had pained God.  He acknowledged his weakness to sin and was pained that his weakness failed him. He sought joy again. The consequences that he suffered brought him to repentance. The pleasures of sin was no longer worth the guilt which he felt for displeasing God. He sought God's grace again. There was nothing David could do to be forgiven of his sins, even murder, other than turn to God!

David desired joy in his life. He no longer felt the urge to pleasure himself. His joy was now to please God again and be restored. He couldn't rewind the tape of life, but he did ask God to blot out the sin from his divine eyes. Never did David ask that there be no consequences, excepting that joy be returned to his life. The desire for joy again was brought about because of the consequences.

David was contrite and sincere. Life is not a game to be taken for granted. What he desired was temporary, but happiness lies in what is eternal. David learned this the hard way! His loss was his gain. Satan's plan was foiled because David responded to the guilt induced by the Holy Spirit. David became a faithful and worshipful servant to God. His failure is an impetus for us all to know that when we fail God, no matter how badly, there is hope. It's the hope of salvation in spite of our weaknesses.

God is graceful! He didn't have to wipe clean the slate. David didn't deserve it, but God did it anyway. Why? Because David was sorry and repentance is a result of sorrow. David wasn't perfect. He was a failure in God's eyes and everyone else's. He was shamed, but God restored him and made him more righteous than ever!

Questions: 

• Is the desire to see beauty bad or natural?
• When did David first sin? Was it when he looked or when he desired her? Did he intend to look or was it happenstance? Was this a coincidence or was he set up by Satan?
• Did Bathsheba sin? Should she have been naked knowing others might see her even accidentally? Was it practical to shield herself from even transient viewers? Or did Bathsheba have no responsibility to maintain modesty?
• Was this incident planned or did principalities desire to undermine David's spiritual life?
• Because David was weak with regard to her beauty does that nullify his righteousness?
• Did Bathsheba have a right to be angry with David seeing her, knowing that she was available for viewing?
• Should Bathsheba be angry that David found her appealing?

What if's:

• What if David was there, Bathsheba was there, she saw him, but he didn't see her at all? Did she have a right to be angry because she thought he was looking?
• What if David didn't see her, but she was there naked anyway? Did Bathsheba sin? Did David do wrong just because he was there?
• What if David saw, but had not lusted? 
• What if David had seen Bathsheba and turned away?

Things would be different that's for sure if things had happened differently than what they did! People can't go back and rewind life which is roadblocked by the one whose sole job is deceiving. From Psalm 51 we find that David had a desire to undo wrongs, but wrongs can't be undone. They can only be forgiven. 

Satan doesn't stop with the sin. He continues on! The next step in the consequences of sin is "blaming each other"! I'm sure that Bathsheba blames David for everything. After all, she was only bathing! Right? I'm sure that David blames Bathsheba. She had no business bathing where she could be seen! Right? It's not mentioned, but it's probable that ill-feelings over who is to blame resulted. However, David, being King, could Lord over her and any anger must have been concealed from him. 

David could have been angry with her! He did much wrong because of her beauty and immodesty. He didn't seem to blame her at all. Did he have a right to blame? It seems that David was more interested in confessing his sins than blaming anyone. Unlike Adam who blamed "the woman", David didn't do that. Perhaps it was so that Bathsheba could keep her honor! It's a complicated thing because Satan complicates things. That's his job. Satan surely smiled broadly when Bathsheba dropped that robe and David came on the roof top for "some reason".