Love the Imperfect You

            One of my favorite people in the Bible is King David. It seems that he is the most flawed human being in the Bible God used for great things. Many of us have done some things that we are ashamed of and would prefer to never think about again. Sometimes these things cause us to cower away from God, because it is hard to see why he would love us in our mess. Considering all of David’s lamentations we can find in the book of Psalms, we are given the opportunity to see that even as imperfect as we are, God still forgives and uses us for His work. Let’s take a look at David’s life.

                        

          Second Samuel 11:1-5 talks about David’s encounter with Bathsheba. “One spring day, during the time of year when kings go off to war, David sent out Joab, along with his personal staff and all of Israel’s army. They utterly destroyed the Ammonites and then attacked Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon about dusk, David got up from his couch and was walking around on the roof of the royal palace. From there he watched a woman taking a bath, and she was very beautiful to look at. David sent word to inquire about her, and someone told him, “This is Eliam’s daughter Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, isn’t it?” So David sent some messengers, took her from her home, and she went to him, and he had sex with her. (She had been consecrating herself following her menstrual separation.)  Then she returned to her home. The woman conceived, and she sent this message to David: “I’m pregnant.”

            This account reminds me of things that happen right now in 2014. A man sees a pretty woman and wants her. He has no concern whether or not this woman is married. All he knows is….he wants her. So they have sex, and he finds out later that she’s pregnant. This is some real life mess!

If committing adultery wasn’t bad enough, David brings Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back from war and tells him to go home and rest (v. 6-8). Although the Bible doesn’t say it, I believe David was trying to get Uriah to sleep with his wife, so when she had the baby, Uriah would believe it was his. Uriah refused to go home because his mind was on the soldiers in the field. Because his plan did not work, David told one of his soldiers to allow Uriah to go to the front of the battle so he would be killed, and that is what happened (v. 14-17).

I can think of shows like Snapped, CSI, and the news, where the plot is very similar to this strory. People decide to have an affair, but when things don’t go the way they hoped, they bail or sometimes even kill the other person in the adulterous relationship. I just could not believe that anything like this was in the Bible! Isn’t the Bible supposed to make us be better people? Aren't we supposed to believe everyone was perfect? Should we know that people were committing these types of sins back in the day?

Unfortunately, Bathsheba and David’s son dies. God was enraged with David, and instead of taking David’s life, he took his baby (2 Samuel 12:1-19). It is by the grace of God that we do not suffer the likes of David. If God snatched something we loved away from us every time we did something sinful, we would be a suffering, lamenting nation. (Thank God for Christ!)

However, David is one of the greatest men in the Bible, and even Jesus’ lineage stems from David. Psalm 51 is one of most notorious psalms where David goes to God with a repentant heart and asks for forgiveness. With such tremendous offenses against God, David still acknowledged God enough to go before him and ask for forgiveness. Even in his imperfection, he still confessed to a perfect God, in hopes to find mercy. And he did. David is considered one of the greatest kings and warriors during his time. God blessed him with immeasurable riches and allowed David’s army to defeat some of their most powerful enemies.

I believe this story was included in the Bible so we can relate to someone’s plight. It is to understand that God can even use AND bless us in our imperfection. It is often that our greatest sins keep us from going back to God. We feel ashamed, unworthy, disloyal, etc. We go on with our lives’, without repent hearts, and live without the covering of God. Our greatest gift is Christ. Christ came so that we can have life (John 10:10). God knows our sinful nature, so He gave us Christ as the ultimate sacrifice. Through our repentant heart, we are at liberty of continuing in God’s grace.

            That thing you did….yeah, the really bad one. It can be forgiven. God loves even the imperfect you. Repent, and move on. Now YOU love the imperfect you. Yes, you made some bad decisions. Yes, you made the same bad decision over and over again. Yes, it is quite possible you will make that bad decision again in the future. Love the imperfect you. Make your mistakes, learn from them, then make an effort to do better.

            If David can find favor from God, I know we can.

           

Peace.

If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or prayer requests, please feel free to email me at: faithfrfr2014@gmail.com.