Day 92- 2 Samuel 12-14 (Does God Punish Us for Our Sins?)
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"Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife... Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun."' So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." (2 Samuel 12:9-13)
There are many who believe that because God is love He cannot punish us for our sins. I wonder if these people also believe that children should not be punished for their wrong-doings and that criminals should not be punished for their crimes. Clearly, the Bible teaches that God punishes all who sin.
God, however, does not punish non-believers the same way that He punishes His children. The Bible teaches that the punishment for sin is eternal death or hell, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) The punishment for those who reject Christ is eternal death, but those who receive Christ as Savior is saved from hell and given the gift of eternal life.
Does that mean Christians do not get punished for their sins? No. The Bible teaches that God punishes His children because He loves them:
"My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives."
(Hebrews 12:5-6)
As I have mentioned in my last post, no other man in history was more loved by God than David and yet when David committed his grave sins of adultery and murder God punished him severely, as we shall learn. Speaking through the prophet Nathan, God announces His judgment on David in our text above.
God quickly executes His punishment on David. Bathsheba's child whom she bore in adultery with David dies. David's son Amnon rapes David's daughter Tamar, sister of David's son Absalom. Absalom takes revenge and kills Amnon then flees from David for three years before being recalled by David. Upon returning to Jerusalem, Absalom plots his takeover of the kingdom, successfully captures Jerusalem, lies with David's wives in view of the people as predicted by Nathan:
"I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun." (2 Samuel 12:11-12)
Absalom's army fights with David's army and in the process gets killed. After David's death, Solomon becomes the last king of the united kingdom before it was divided into the northern kingdom of Judah and the southern kingdom of Israel.
Wow, talk about severe punishment for God's most favored child. If God punished David because of his sins, we can be sure that He will also punish His other children whenever we sin against Him. The important thing, though, is to have the proper attitude towards God's discipline. We can either be bitter because of God's discipline as some become or, we can like David, acknowlege our sin and repent before God:
So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." (2 Samuel 12:13)
Because David acknowleged his sin before God, God still blessed David for the rest of his life and rule over Israel. We too can still be blessed by God after we have sinned if we would acknowlege our sins and repent before God. Are guilty of sinning against God and have not yet acknowleged your sins? Perhaps, you are suffering under God's discipline for sin or sins you have committed; if so, do not be bitter against God but acknowlege your sins before Him and He will still bless your life ahead of you.
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