2 Samuel 12 teaches us much about mercy and grace and the possibility of restoration and fresh starts. But it also teaches us about the consequences of our sins. Nathan brings a word of judgment to David, which will reverberate down through David’s life. Not only is he told that the son conceived in adultery will die, but he is warned that violence will ensue in his own family and that his secret adultery will be repaid with open adultery from his own household. Much of the rest of 2 Samuel goes on to chronicle how this is fulfilled.

We can know the glories of forgiveness and fresh starts, but we also have to deal with the consequences of our actions, for we reap what we sow. David sowed death by murdering Uriah, and must see four of his sons die subsequently. He sowed deceit and betrayal and reaped deception and betrayal in the person of Ahithophel. He sowed sexual sin and reaped that through his sons’ behaviour.

The lessons David had to learn were hard, but we see from the way he accepted God’s judgment that his repentance is real. He knows that God is just and cannot turn a blind eye to sin. He may mourn, but he is able to trust God’s goodness, even in times of difficulty and heartache.

We left David in 2 Samuel 11 in a sorry place, having sinned greatly against the Lord through deceit, lies, adultery and murder. What he had done displeased the Lord, and so God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin. Perhaps we would have talked about bad behaviour and crimes, but Nathan is aware that this is sin, and it demonstrates a lack of respect for God above all. He is fearless in tackling the problem, quite unlike our modern tendency to try to cover things up and pretend there is nothing wrong.

Nathan’s methodology, however, intrigues us, for he tells a story about a man and sheep. Perhaps he knew that this would catch the attention of David, a former shepherd, but as David burns against the injustice in this story, Nathan connects it forcibly to David’s own behaviour. Stories often pierce our defences because they seem so innocent, but their sting is to reveal our own nature to ourselves. David is humbled, seeing how he has behaved arrogantly and with no thought for God, as his great psalms of repentance indicate (Ps 51, Ps 32.)

The good news in 2 Samuel 12 is that sin doesn’t have to have the last word. Grace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness have the greater place in David’s life. We see this at the end of the chapter, when a second child is born to David and Bathsheba, named Solomon, but given the name ‘Jedidiah’ (‘loved by the Lord’) through the prophet Nathan. There can be new beginnings and second chances because of God’s forgiveness and grace.

Yesterday we spent much of the day putting up new storage shelving and sorting out the children’s room, which has become a bit of a dumping ground for everything in our building! There was barely a surface without something on it!

We sorted and tidied all the craft materials, paper and paints, throwing out all that was broken or not working.

Then each thing found a new labelled home to live in!

Our thanks to Garry, Carl, Stacey, Kathy and Janet who literally spent all day Friday working on this transformation.

There were plenty of silly games at the New Year’s Day party.