One of the things I appreciate about the Bible is that doesn’t hold back from revealing the sins and failures of people, even the great men and women who are held as leaders and examples to imitate. We learn both from positive and negative examples of biblical characters and many times we read about the positive and negative examples to learn from in the same person.

King David is an example of this. Though he is called a “man after God’s own heart” and “with upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand”(Psalm 78:72), David sinned and failed greatly. In 2 Samuel chapters 11-12 we see the tragic moral fall of a great leader. We see that he committed great sin, concealed his sin, was confronted in his sin and confessed and repented of his sin. He found God’s gracious forgiveness immediately upon his repentance (2 Samuel 12:13), yet he still had to experience the painful consequences of his sin (2 Samuel 12:10-12,14) This reminds us of the biblical truth that man will reap what he sows. Eugene Peterson paraphrases this NT truth well:

“Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.”
Galatians 6:7-8 MSG

One of the applications we learn from David’s example is to confess of sins both to God and others (1 John 1:9, James 5:16). Confession is the path to forgiveness and freedom, healing and community. When we humble ourselves through prayers of confession and confession in our community, then we are met with gospel grace. Pastor J.D. wrote that:
“Grace frees us from the paralysis of guilt to the possibility of true community”.

So let’s be a people who walk in the light of truth and transparency since we truly have been made children of the light (Ephesians 5:8).