May the mumbling commence!
Whether we confess our sins or not,
there still will be some consequences.
Confession of sins does not totally wipe away consequences. Ask King David. He knows.
Look at the aftermath from his sin with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife. Read from Second Samuel chapter twelve:
So the Lord
sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: "There were two men in a certain town. One
was rich, and one was poor. The rich man
owned many sheep and cattle. The poor
man owned nothing but a little lamb he had worked hard to buy. He raised that
little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man's own plate
and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But
instead of killing a lamb from his own flocks for food, he took the poor man's
lamb and killed it and served it to his guest."
David was furious. "As surely as the Lord
lives," he vowed, "any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he
stole and for having no pity."
Then Nathan said to David, "You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says, 'I anointed you king of Israel and saved
you from the power of Saul. I gave you
his house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had
not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you
despised the word of the Lord and
done this horrible deed? For you have murdered
Uriah and stolen his wife.
From this time on, the sword will be
a constant threat to your family, because you have despised me by taking
Uriah's wife to be your own.
'Because of what you have done, I, the Lord, will cause your own household to
rebel against you. I will give your
wives to another man, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will do this to
you openly in the sight of all Israel.'"
Then David
confessed to Nathan, "I have sinned
against the Lord."
Nathan replied, "Yes, but the Lord
has forgiven you, and you won't die for this sin. But
you have given the enemies of the Lord
great opportunity to despise and blaspheme him, so your child will die."
(Verses 1-14)
There is the confrontation. David wanted the man of the parable to give restitution
fourfold for the theft and the lack of pity.
He was adamant.
But, when he found out that he was the
man because of what he had done with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah, he simply
confessed to Nathan his sin against the Lord.
What happened to the restitution?
Uriah was dead, but surely there was someone in his family to confess to
and pay restitution.
And what about Bathsheba – how could
David pay restitution to her? Didn’t she
have a say about what she wanted? Did
she really want to become David’s wife?
It
is no wonder that David’s family would be constantly harassed by the sword –
even from within, especially from within.
Sin has a way of coming to the surface, even though we may try to hide
it.
On the other side of the coin,
there are also consequences for following the lead of the Lord. Ask Peter about that as he visited
Cornelius. Read about the aftermath of
that incident in Acts chapter eleven:
Just
then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was
staying. The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not
to worry about their being Gentiles. These six brothers here
accompanied me, and we soon arrived at the home of the man who had sent for
us. He told us how an angel had appeared
to him in his home and had told him, 'Send messengers to Joppa to find Simon
Peter. He will tell you how you and all
your household will be saved!'
Well, I began
telling them the Good News, but just as
I was getting started, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at
the beginning. Then I thought of the
Lord's words when he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with
the Holy Spirit.' And since God
gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was I to argue?"
(Verses 11-17)
Indeed, we need to choose our
battles… really the best choice is the Lord’s battle. If we are to be called on the carpet as Peter
was, it is best to be defending actions taken in following the lead of the Holy
Spirit.
Picking a battle against the
Lord is a sure way to loss.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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