Learning From His Greatest Defeat

Psalm 23 was written by a man who knows what it is to fail disastrously

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

This is the fifth in a series of articles about the life of King David. It forms part of a companion to my book “THE PSALM 23 LIFE: Experiencing the Love of God Every Day”.

Have you ever wondered how a man who had the faith to take on a nine-foot giant could be defeated by a four-letter word — lust? Or how, as the underdog David came out victorious, but when he was at his strongest, he could suffer his greatest defeat? He was a human being, that’s how, just like you and me. And like all its heroes, the Bible records King David’s victories and defeats, so that we can learn from them both.

David decided to stay at home rather than go off to fight with his men (first mistake). One evening he saw a beautiful woman bathing. Captivated by her, he sent someone to find out who she was (second mistake). Her name was Bathsheba the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was away fighting where David should have been. David sent for her (third mistake), and slept with her (fourth mistake).

Rarely does a great fall happen in one step; usually, as we see with David, it results from a series of small steps. At any point, David had the freedom to make a different choice, but he didn’t, and his choices got even worse…

Bathsheba gets pregnant. But rather than admit his terrible mistake and make amends, he tries to cover it up (fifth mistake). David sends for her husband, Uriah the Hittite, from the front line, and tries to get Uriah to sleep with his wife. But Uriah is too noble to indulge in home comforts while his commander and comrades are at war.

So David wrote a letter to the commander, and sent it with Uriah back to the front line, in which David instructs the commander to get Uriah killed by the enemy (sixth mistake). David betrays Uriah and sends him to his death. How the loyalty and nobility of Uriah’s character serves as a standard with which to measure the betrayal in David’s heart.

After Bathsheba had mourned for her husband, David had her brought to his house, she became his wife and bore him a son…

But the thing David had done displeased the Lord (2 Samuel 11:27 NIV).

So here we have six mistakes, six bad choices, each one a chance to choose a different path. In the battle with sin the early defence is the best; the further down the path we go, the harder it is to resist. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) says:

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

David’s spectacular fall shows us that somewhere along the line he neglected to guard his heart, so that even someone like David, described as a man after God’s own heart, could fall into terrible sin. If it can happen to David, it can happen to anyone.

The Lord is, not surprisingly, displeased with David and sends Nathan the prophet who tells him a story about a rich man who has many sheep. This rich man rather than taking one of his own sheep to eat takes the only beloved sheep of a poor man, and eats that. A clever story by Nathan, that recalls David’s shepherding days. David quickly burns with anger against the rich man and condemns him because he has no pity. Let’s pick up the story at 2 Samuel 12:7–10,13 (NIV):

Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.”

Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’

Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.’

Here is a critical exchange between Nathan and David, that reveals five things to us about how God responds to sin, as well as how we should behave when we have sinned:

1. Despising God is at the heart of sin. When we choose to do wrong by breaking one of God’s commands or doing what displeases him, we show contempt for the Lord. If we forget this truth when temptation knocks on our door, as we so easily can, then we lose our greatest defence against sin — our desire to love God and please him. How differently would we view temptation, if we saw it as a choice between despising God or loving God?
2. God is direct, clear and specific in revealing our sin. God reminds David of how much he has given to him, comparing his generosity with David’s betrayal. God is always specific in convicting us of sin, he will not come with generalities. This is the difference between conviction and condemnation. If you are feeling a general condemnation with nothing specific that you can respond to, that is not of God. God convicts us, Satan condemns us.
3. Sin has consequences. The world likes to portray sin as fun and glamorous and desirable. But that is a lie. Sin is ugly, nasty and in the end damages and destroys lives, its tentacles reaching out to affect many. Never flirt with sin. The consequence for David and his family was very severe — the sword would never depart from his house.
4. We need to agree with God about our sin. That is what confession means, to agree with God that what we did was wrong. In the whole sorry tale, this is the one part that David got absolutely right. He made no excuse, no attempt to shift the blame, he just says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” What a contrast with Saul, who when the prophet confronted him with his sin always had someone else to blame. David was quick to confess his sin. This was perhaps his defining characteristic, and if you are going to take one thing from the whole of the life of David, let it be this, because it unlocks the fourth lesson.
5. God will take away our sin. Nathan said to David, “The Lord has taken away your sin”. The thing about sin is that it has to be taken away. We can’t wash our own sin away no matter how hard we try. We can’t earn forgiveness. But…

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NIV)

Confession is the key that unlocks free and full forgiveness from God. The wonderful thing about God taking away our sin, is that when sin is gone, it is gone. Consequences may remain, but as far as our relationship with God is concerned, it is as if we had never sinned. David understood this when he wrote Psalm 103:12 (NIV):

as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

This wonderful gift of forgiveness was bought for you and me, by the one who laid down his life for us. This is why, when he saw Jesus, John the Baptist said:

‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ (John 1:29 NIV).

Psalm 23 was written by a man who was quick to confess his sin to God.

Read “The Psalm 23 Life” to make King David’s experience of God’s love your experience too…

The Psalm 23 Life: Experiencing the Love of God Every Day

You can access the other parts in this series on the life of King David below:

Part 1

A PSALM OF DAVID

Part 2

David and Goliath

Part 3

Psalm 23 was written by a man who lost everything

Part 4

Waiting on God