When Heroes of Faith Fall
Today we’re continuing this series on the life of David. As we’ve said all along, there were days David defeated his giants. And those days were legendary.
But there were other days, days when his giants defeated him. And if we’re going to be honest about his story we have to hold in tension his victories and his defeats.
So… let me begin today with this uncomfortable question…
What do we do when our heroes fail and fall?
Be + Do
When I was in high school I played basketball. Our high school basketball coach was a great man named Coach Goodman. He had high expectations for us. His practices were hard and he always made us focus on the fundamentals.
Coach Goodman would make us practice dribbling the basketball and making good passes in the middle of the season because he wanted to make sure that we didn’t forget the fundamentals. And he had this thing he always said. He probably said it a million times. He would always tell us…
“Be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. And do what you’re supposed to do.”
That was good advice for basketball and it was even better advice for life.
I guess he thought if we just did that, we would be alright and we would stay out of trouble.
The older I’ve gotten the more I’ve realized just how right he was.
People all around us fail and fall every day for this one simple reason. They are NOT where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there. And they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.
We know people who have failed in major ways and we’ve been the ones left to pick up the pieces and sort through the wreckage left in the wake of their choices. Maybe they didn’t mean for everything to happen that happened, but intention is irrelevant when you’re the one dealing with the consequences of someone else’s decisions.
Or maybe we’ve been the one who did the thing we’ll always regret. We were not where we were supposed to be and we were not doing what we were supposed to be doing. We played with fire and we got burned and what we quickly realized after the fact was that we were not the only one’s that got burned.
Other people were hurt. That wasn’t our intention. But intention is irrelevant. Our attempts at cover up only made things worse. It only led to more hurt, more pain, more regret. We believed the lie that we were only hurting ourselves.
So what do we do when our heroes fail and fall?
What do we do when we fail and fall?
The Day Fidelity Fell
The good news for us is that God doesn’t leave these stories out of history, His-story. And we’re not going to avoid it either even though it would be easier to skip over it, move passed it, mention it but then go back to the great stories of David’s victories and read again his psalms of worship.
As great as David was, there was a day that his fidelity to God fell. And on that day his life took a downward turn. In fact, after this moment, things would never be the same again.
Here’s the story found in 2 Samuel 11.
1 In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
As this story begins, it’s hard to miss this point… Every able bodied Israelite man is going off to war except one man. David.
For the first time in his life David decided to NOT go to war with his troops. He chose to NOT lead his men into battle. Up to this point in the story, David had always done the right thing, made the right choice.
But on this day something shifted in his heart, something changed and instead of going to war WITH his men he SENT them off to fight his enemies and he STAYED behind in Jerusalem.
David didn’t have a Coach Goodman in his life telling him, “Be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there. And do what you’re supposed to do.”
Over the next 4 verses, I want you to notice how quickly this story turns, how quickly David’s life is forever changed because of his decision to stay home when he should have went to war.
If he had simply gone to work, gone into battle with his men like he had always done, like he was supposed to, this might have never happened.
But in 4 short verses David’s life is forever changed as he comes face to face with a giant within him that defeats him.
Everybody Struggles
2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. 5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”
David is remembered as a man after God’s own heart, but David wasn’t perfect. And this story reminds us of two things. First, absolutely no one is immune from the power of temptation and sin.
EVERYBODY STRUGGLES.
And second, there’s room for absolutely everyone to be known as a man, a woman, after God’s own heart.
David should have been on the battle field that day. Instead, he was home, in his palace, taking an afternoon nap. The problem with temptation is that it seems to know when our guard is down. Our enemy is real, he is relentless, and he has been tempting people for thousands of years. He knows when our defenses are down, when we are weak and vulnerable.
David doesn’t set out to sin. People rarely do. He’s taking an afternoon walk on his rooftop when he sees something he wasn’t looking for. It’s like an inappropriate ad popped up on his screen and instead of closing that screen he let his eyes linger.
What’s interesting is that David had a wife. In fact, he had multiple wives. Not to mention he had many more concubines. He was a king. And in those days kings had multiple wives and concubines. He was king and he had everything he could ever need or want.
David has everything, but doesn’t have enough.
Putting Aside Faith in order to Feed Desire
David did what kings often do, he took what he wanted.
He knew she was the wife of one of his warriors. He knew her husband was exactly where he was supposed to be doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Uriah the Hittite was at war while David, the king of the Jews, was at home.
I don’t know if David tried to rationalize his decision like we so often do or if he just decided he was the king and he could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted with whoever he wanted. But I do know that David had more than one giant in his life that he had to face. And on that day this giant would defeat David.
When David faced giants like Goliath he was able to defeat them because he put his faith in the LORD God Almighty. But on this particular day, facing this particular giant, David put aside his faith so he could feed his desire.
After David has his way with her, Bathsheba speaks. She only speaks two words in the entire story. She’s only given two words in all of scripture. We have thousands of words written and spoken by David. Bathsheba gets two. “I’m pregnant.”
The writer of 2 Samuel tells us that Bathsheba had just finished her menstrual period. That detail is included so that it would be crystal clear, this child belonged to David.
The Bible doesn’t hide or cover up the stories of great failure from it’s most celebrated characters. So what do you do when heroes of faith fall?
I’ll be honest, it feels unforgivable. I’m not a woman but I can only imagine how the women reading this feel when they read this story, hear this story, and think about what it must have been like to be Bathsheba in this moment.
Some of you, sadly, don’t have to imagine. You’ve been there. You know first hand what it’s like to be victimized by a man, someone who has power over you and has chosen to exert that power over you.
I’ll confess my own discomfort and disgust every time I read this story or every time I hear a story like this. We’ve all heard stories of people who are held up as spiritual leaders having moral failures and I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing stories of pastors having moral failings. I’m tired of hearing stories of Christian leaders setting aside their faith to feed their desire.
From Bad to Worse
David does the unthinkable. It feels unforgivable.
And as if that wasn’t enough, it gets worse.
Because what David does next is the exact same thing we do when we realize we’ve sinned. His sin sets in motion a downward spiral as he attempts to cover up what he’s done, leveraging his power again and again to preserve his reputation.
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
David’s plan to cover up his sin doesn’t work! Uriah the Hittite has more honor than David the king.
David was hoping Uriah would go home to his wife, sleep with Bathsheba, then, when the child was born, everyone would just assume the father was Uriah. But Uriah chose solidarity with his brothers who were still on the battle field. Uriah came home because the king sent for him but his heart was still on the front lines.
David couldn’t believe it. He asked Uriah…
“Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
The Cover Up Continued
So David decides to move to phase two of the cover up. He’ll get Uriah drunk and then, surely, Uriah will go home to his wife, give into his desire for her, and then this whole thing will finally go away, right?
But Uriah won’t do it. David invites Uriah to a grand feast that night, the food keeps coming and the wine is freely flowing. And sure enough, Uriah has a little to much to drink.
But even drunk with wine Uriah has more honor than David who was drunk with power. Once again, Uriah chooses to sleep outside with the servants instead of going home to his wife!
So now, David moves to phase three of the cover up. He writes a letter to the commander of his army, a man by the name of Joab, and he instructs Uriah to carry this confidential letter to his commanding officer. Here’s what David wrote in the sealed letter that Uriah would carry to Joab:
15 “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
Joab was the head of David’s army. He understands how these things work. He does exactly what David asked him to do. And on that day, when they went into battle, Uriah fought for his brothers, his country, and his king.
Uriah fought for David. And then, Uriah died.
Word came to Jerusalem that Uriah had fallen in battle. Bathsheba mourned for her husband. I don’t think David did. When the period set aside for mourning was over, David summoned Bathsheba again. And this time, he took her as his wife.
And David’s story hinges on what scripture says next:
“But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” – 1 Samuel 11.27
What do you do when your heroes fail and fall?
What do you do when you fail and fall?
The Story that Turned the Story Around
What happens next is not at all what you would expect to happen next in the story. God sends a friend to David, a trusted voice, someone like Coach Goodman, a prophet named Nathan to talk to David and tell him a story.
1 “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!
— 2 Samuel 12.1-7
At this point, David correctly redirected his anger at himself. He was convicted of his sin. And he confessed his sin to Nathan.
That confession didn’t take away the consequences but it did pave the way for repentance and reconciliation. Here’s what I want you to see…
If you want to stop feeding your desires so you can defeat your giants, it begins with confession.
And here’s the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ:
When you return to God you can be redeemed by God.
The Power of Confession
You see, there’s nothing you could ever do that could make God love you less. I believe the reason God made sure this story about David’s greatest defeat was preserved in scripture for all time was so that you could know, so that I could know, every person can be a person after God’s own heart.
David experienced tremendous defeat. This celebrated king of Israel did something that for many of us would be considered unforgivable.
But with God, forgiveness is always possible. No one is irredeemable. And that means people just like you and me are welcome to be a part of God’s family.
But that forgiveness, that redemption, it begins with confession.
And I just wonder, What do you need to confess today?
The truth is, confession is a spiritual practice that we don’t practice very often. But without confession there is no freedom. There’s something about telling the truth that sets us free.
The Truth Will Set You Free
Everybody struggles.
Maybe, like Bathsheba, you’ve been a victim of someone else’s sin. Here’s what I want you to know: You are loved. You are not at fault.
Maybe, like David, you now realize something you didn’t know before, your sin didn’t just hurt you, it hurt a lot of people around you. Maybe now you’re ready, like David was, to confess your sin and own your consequences. Here’s what I want you to know: You are loved. You are not alone.
Whenever you put into practice the spiritual practice of confession, you find PEACE with God.
David and Bathsheba’s first son died. But God blessed them with a second son they named Solomon, which means “PEACE.” God confirmed his forgiveness of David by giving Solomon another name, Jedidiah, which means “Beloved of the Lord.”
Confession leads to forgiveness which leads to peace with God and the reminder that we are beloved by God.
What do we do when our heroes fail and fall? When we fail and fall? We tell the rest of the story. We live the rest of the story. We confess our sin, repent of our wrongs, and return to God.
When we return to God we can be redeemed by God.
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