David was pretty far from perfect. 2 Samuel 11-12 is the account of a very rough patch for him.

David was relaxing when he should have been leading his nation. During a hazy warm afternoon after a nap, he saw a beautiful woman and had to have her. He killed her husband Uriah so that nothing would stand in the way of their relationship. (That wasn’t an easy task. Uriah was a very dedicated soldier and wanted to return immediately to the battlefield. David called in the commander of his army, Joab, to help him pull off the murder. I doubt if Joab was happy about that.)

The child resulting from David’s rendezvous with the beautiful woman died.

And yet, God said David was a man after His own heart.

God’s acceptance of David did not mean He gave him everything he wanted. In the 2 Samuel passage, you can see that David had to go through lots of horrible stuff before he reached a point of peaceful favor. And even then, the consequences of his destructive actions would remain with him for the rest of his life. God sometimes makes the consequences of our bad actions disappear, but that’s more the exception than the rule.

God’s complete acceptance of David meant letting him experience some really tough stuff. God then sent Nathan to tell David how wrong he was. David finally admitted his wrongs.

Luke 15:7 says “…there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” God loves it when we confess our wrongs to Him. What a beautiful thing!

So when we make mistakes, let’s bring them to God and say we are sorry. Things will get better from there.

(Paul Merrill writes here every First Friday.)