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Commentary on "In the Shadow of His Wings"
Day 2: Sunday, May 8, 2011 - The Naked Truth
Overview
Today's lesson introduces David's sin with Bathsheba, the sin that led to his repentance and his psalms about God's wings. It points out that his sin led to multiple attempts to cover it up. It ends with questions about the dangers of prosperity and the reason adversity draws us to God.
Observations
Again, the forced metaphors in this lesson detract from whatever the lessons were. I am left with an uncomfortable sense that the writers enjoyed hiding behind metaphors to make shady innuendos. For example, at the end of the second paragraph is this sentence: "How ironic and tragic that in a study devoted to the spiritual lessons of garments, the sad story of David's fall begins in a literal lack of them."
David's fall did not begin with a lack of garments. It began when he did not go to war with his men as they fought for him. He indulged himself at home instead of leading his country, and he placed himself in a place of distraction and temptation.
Furthermore, David was not helpless against the sight of Bathsheba bathing. He made a decision to send for her. There were many steps he had to pursue before he actually committed adultery with her.
The lesson further attempts to compare David, the king at the pinnacle of his power, with an eagle in flight, and then suggests he falls from his position by "one small glance".
This presentation trivializes David's sin. He wasn't helpless; he didn't sin because of one small glance. David sinned because he chose to act on his temptation--and he did so because he, as are we, was born in sin.
David, like each of us, was born in sin (Ps. 51:5), and sinning is inevitable in humans. David's sin was a natural consequence of his fallen nature; yet God led him to repent and to receive His forgiveness.
Sin is not simply a problem of not praying enough or or bad decisions. Human sin is rooted in our natural spiritual death into which we are born (Eph. 2:1-3), and absolutely no decision we make or deed we do is "clean" unless we are born from above. Sin is unavoidable. This fact is why we need not simple "forgiveness" but a Substitute.
Our sin--David's sin--deserves God's judgment, but Jesus took His judgment upon Himself on the cross. He became sin (2 Cor 5:21) and became a curse (Gal. 3:13), and His blood was a propitiation to God (Rom. 3:26). Jesus took God's judgment on human sin, and thus we have a Substitute whose righteousness is credited to our account when we are born again.
Prosperity itself was not David's problem. His problem was not acting in trust of God's word when he saw Bathsheba. Instead of surrendering his desire and his pride to God in obedience to His word, he acted on his desires.
This natural response to our own desires is what God offers to change in us. He gives us another option: trust Him instead of struggle with temptation. David chose to "live" in his temptation instead of trusting God's word.
Summary
- David's sin did not begin with a lack of garments, nor did it begin in one small glance.
- David's sin began by his being conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity.
- David's cover-up of his sin was his fleshly attempt to mitigate the effects of his guilt.
- God finally intervened and called David to own his guilt and to repent.
- David's position and power were not causes of his sin.
- Sin is never trivial: one small glance, or one bad choice. Sin is our nature.
- We require a Substitute whose eternal blood sacrifice pays for our guilt.
- David needed to "own" his guilt and repent; only then--with the full consequence of his guilt clearly seen--could he receive God's forgiveness and release his pathetic and useless attempts to control the outcome.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised May 2, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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