God Forgives but There Are Consequences

Tom Shrader walks through 2 Samuel 12–14, showing that while God forgave David's adultery and murder, the consequences of those sins played out painfully in his household — through the death of his infant son, Amnon's rape of Tamar, and Absalom's revenge and estrangement. Drawing on the principle of sowing and reaping from Galatians 6, Shrader contrasts David's broken, repentant heart with Absalom's absence of genuine repentance, and uses that contrast to press the point that only those who see themselves as sinners will truly find God. The teaching closes with a pastoral call to cultivate deep gratitude rooted in an honest reckoning with sin and the grace that answers it.

“Only people who realize they're in trouble will find Christ — only those who see themselves as sinners can ever understand that they need a Savior.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: So You Really Want a King?

Recorded: 2009 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 45 min

Themes: forgiveness, consequences, repentance, sin, gratitude, grace, sowing and reaping, brokenness, struggling with past sin, dealing with consequences of sin, parent, husband, feeling unworthy, seeking forgiveness, new believer, recovering from moral failure

Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1-25, 2 Samuel 13, 2 Samuel 14, 2 Samuel 15, Galatians 6:8, Romans 9, Psalm 51, Deuteronomy 8:2, Proverbs 4:23, 1 Corinthians 1

Theological Themes: hamartiology, divine forgiveness, sanctification, sowing and reaping, repentance, temporal consequences, God's discipline, grace

Full Transcript

Introduction: Laws and Principles

There are, in our universe, laws or principles that are undeniable, reliable, and predictable. We even plan lives, projects, and science around them. Take gravity, for example. We may not fully understand it, but we know that it is there, we know it works, and we know its force. When they were calculating how to go to the moon and come back, the gravitational pull and everything that goes with it factored into that equation.

What is interesting about the principles we are going to look at today is that you may deny their existence, but their effects on you are undeniable. You may say gravity is overrated and you are not sure you even believe in it. But if you climb up somewhere and step out, as you hit the ground you will likely become a believer. Not necessarily — some of you are stubborn and would need a higher building — but you get the principle.

The Principle of Sowing and Reaping

There is a principle in Scripture that I find in Galatians. It says, "For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. The one who sows to the Spirit will reap from the Spirit eternal life." That is the principle of sowing and reaping, and we see it all around us in agriculture. If you plant corn, you grow corn. If you plant peas, you grow peas. If you plant potatoes, you do not expect watermelon.

The same thing is true in the area of sowing and reaping as we deal with God. What Paul is saying in Galatians 6 is that if I plant sin, I reap the corruption of it, and if I plant in the Spirit, I reap the eternal life of it. It is a principle that God has put in place.

Reviewing David's Story

As we look at David, last week I wanted to focus on the forgiveness and grace aspect of what happened in his life. This week we turn to the consequences as well. To refresh your memory: in chapter 12, David has sinned. He has had an adulterous affair with Bathsheba, and to cover it up he has killed her husband.

God sends, in chapter 12 verse 1, a man named Nathan to David. Nathan comes and tells David a story, a story that is convicting. It first makes David angry — he declares that one man in the story deserves justice and the other deserves death. Then Nathan utters four words: "You are the man." It is you, David. You are guilty.

What I focused on last week was David's response. I was very focused on verse 13, where David says, "I have sinned against the Lord." He confesses. He does not try to gloss over it. He simply says, "I have sinned." And God speaks quickly through Nathan: your sin has been taken away, you have been forgiven, and you shall not die. The punishment for those sins under the Old Testament covenant was death — capital punishment — but God gives David grace and does not carry out that sentence.

Forgiveness Does Not Erase Consequences

Now, forgiven does not mean there are no consequences. Sometimes God intervenes and simply moves on, but most of the time there are consequences to sin. In verses 7 through 12, God says through Nathan: remember everything I have done for you, remember our relationship and that it is a permanent thing. But you have despised the word of the Lord. You have done this evil thing in His sight. You have killed Uriah and taken his wife.

As a result, verse 10 says, the sword will never depart from your house. Verse 11 adds, "I will raise up evil against you from your own household." Here is how Eugene Peterson paraphrases verses 10 through 12: "And now, because you treated God with such contempt and took Uriah the Hittite's wife as your wife, killing and murdering will continually plague your family." Then in verse 11, God says, "I will make trouble for you in your own family. I'll take your wives right out in front of you" — and he had about six of them at this point — "and I'll get some of your neighbors and I'll go to bed with them openly."

Verse 14, reading now from the New American Standard, says: "Because this deed you have done has given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you will surely die." There is something else that has happened here. As a result of David's sin, his sin becomes so widely known that the enemies of God use it as an excuse to blaspheme the name of the Lord. We are attached —

Representing God Before Others

People look at us, and whether we like it or not, or maybe even realize it, they make judgments on God based on how they see us. Some people have said it this way: you may be the only Bible that some people ever read. We see this principle at work even physically. When my girls were small, it was so funny — I could bring in ten kids on this platform and you wouldn't know any of them. I would say, "Which ones are mine?" And you would point right to them, because they looked just like me — little round faces, little chubby cheeks. What God is saying is that we instinctively know we are supposed to start looking like our Father. We represent Him in how we live and what we do.

We are supposed to represent Him — we won't do it perfectly, obviously — and we also know a second principle that is perhaps equally important: He is judged by others by how we behave. It's very practical. You're going over to somebody's house for dinner, you have all the kids in the car, and you make the final turn before you get there. You stop the car and say, "Listen, I'm going to tell you one time — I don't want a peep out of you, I don't want one problem." We'd love to think it's about discipline, but it isn't, is it? We know that our friends will evaluate what kind of parents we are based upon how our kids behave. That is what Nathan is saying: people are constantly evaluating our God by His kids.

The Hardest Part of Discipline

I have to be really honest about something personally. In this whole discipline question, this is probably the toughest part for me. I understand the back and forth. I understand that is going to happen. But I'm not sure I understand "and the child must die." I have a flinch, and that flinch screams up inside of me. I will confess this to you: over the years, that shout is not nearly as loud as it once was. But it is still there — "That just doesn't seem fair."

I immediately go in my mind to Romans 9, where God is explaining the sovereignty of God and how He deals with people. He gives us a beautiful picture of twins born of the same mother and the same father. Paul writes: "Not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.'" Total reversal of the culture. And beyond this: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" — in the womb, twins, who hadn't done anything.

Paul anticipates our reaction and writes: "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!" So here is what I know. Though I may look at this and have a very strong visceral reaction to it, at that point I am looking at it humanly. What I know is that I can trust God in the midst of all of this. Whatever He does, He is either extending grace or mercy.

The Destination of the Child

Probably nothing is tougher than dealing with this as it relates to the child itself. What happens to that baby? David tells us in the same chapter, in verse 23. He is speaking after the child has died. He says, "I know that I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." Some have said that all David is saying is that the child is dead, and that we will die too, and that is simply what will happen. I believe what David is telling us there is that he knows where that child is — he knows that child is in paradise — and that one day he will be there too.

Now, I will say I believe this, and I know the Scripture does not give me the exact chapter and verse. But I think you can build a pretty strong case for it. John MacArthur has written a little book, about 120 pages — I believe it is called *Safe in His Arms*, though I'm not entirely certain of the title — in which he builds a case through Scripture, as John would, that the Bible teaches us that babies are in heaven.

Three Families, Three Losses

When our church was probably a tenth the size it is now, we had three families lose babies within six months — essentially all normal pregnancies, all anticipated normal births. Three of them lost their baby either right at birth, right before birth, or right after. It was a very emotional time. I remember one in particular — I need to be careful here. I remember the baby was in a small white casket, and after the service we walked out to the burial site with the father carrying it. That is an emotional experience, an incredible and deeply moving experience.

To see those three families going through arguably one of the most challenging and difficult things a person can encounter in life, and to see all three of them rest in the comfort of God's grace and God's mercy — not only regarding the destination of the baby, but in the tension, the questioning, and the anxiety that came in their own lives and their own relationships — was profound. Almost any time you begin a sentence with "why," and especially "why would God," it is very hard to answer that question. These are hard answers to find. But we know the character of God. We know that He is just. We know that He is good. And we rest in that grace and mercy.

David's Response to the Consequences

True to Nathan's promise, verse 15 tells us that the Lord struck the child that Uriah's widow had borne to David, so that he became very sick. So this baby becomes very sick. What do you do in a moment like that — whether it is a child or some other difficult incident? I think David gives us a good example. The text tells us that David inquired of God...

David's Vigil and the Death of the Child

David prayed for the child. He interceded. He begged for the life of this child. He probably would have traded places and said, "Take me instead — it's what I deserve." He fasted. He went and lay on the ground all night, and the elders of the household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat the food they had given him. This went on for seven days.

Chuck Swindoll offered a really interesting insight into David's situation here. He noted that during the time of prayer, David didn't leave his house. He didn't go to the place of worship — we know that because later David washes himself and changes his clothes before he goes into the house of the Lord to worship, so obviously until that later time, he didn't leave.

What Swindoll draws from that is this: when we go through the whirlwind, we should be still and quiet. We should not announce or advertise everything we are going through. We Christians tend to tell everything, dumping it all out rather indiscriminately, when really it isn't everyone's business.

When the elders came and found David in the condition he was in, they stood beside him and tried to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling. He wouldn't eat. "Come on, David," they said. "Get on your feet. You need something." He said, "No. Leave me alone." Swindoll's point is that when we go through periods of deep distress brought on by our own sin or someone else's sinfulness, it is wise — even biblical — not to surround ourselves with people, no matter how well-meaning they might be.

Solitude is essential. Silence is necessary. Words from others usually distract. The call is to stay in the Lord's presence and seek His mind during a painful time. As Proverbs 4:23 says, we are to keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it come the issues of life. Some things are too precious to share — too deep, too personal, too painful, too profound in the soul-searching of our lives. We are to stay quiet so we can hear Him say all that He wants to say to us in our hearts.

On Solitude Versus Community

A couple of comments on this principle. Swindoll is not saying the Christian life is to be lived in isolation. What he is responding to is something seen in many instances: somebody will sin, or be sinned against, or be affected by someone else's sin, and there seems to be a burning desire to tell or engage as many people as they possibly can — a series of meetings, trying to elicit advice or support, or often trying to rid themselves of some guilt they carry. On the other end, people feel they deserve to know, that others owe them an account of what is happening.

There are times when a small group of people is what you need. There are times you just need to be alone. There are times when it is simply not appropriate to share. We do need community — we believe that. Home groups, area ministries, ministering to one another — all of that is real and necessary. But David gives us a model, or at least a principle worth thinking about: there are some things that call for stillness before God rather than circulation among people.

David Rises After the Child Dies

On the seventh day, the child died. The servants were afraid to tell David. They said to one another, "When the child was still alive, he wouldn't listen to us. Now that the child is dead, how can we tell him? He may do himself harm." They had watched how strongly he had reacted and did not know how he would handle the news.

David noticed that the servants were whispering among themselves and concluded that the child must have died. He asked them directly, and they confirmed it. So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went into the house of the Lord and worshiped, then came back to his house and asked for something to eat.

The servants were bewildered. "What is this thing you have done?" they said. "When the child was alive, you fasted and wept. But now that the child has died, you arose and ate food." David's answer was clear: "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. Why? Because who knows — the Lord may be gracious and the child may live. But now that he has died, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."

There is a wonderful principle in those words.

God's Grace in the Midst of Consequences

I know God is gracious. I know God is in control. I understand the sovereignty of God, and I understand that it is the core of the relationship that I have with God. That word translated here as "gracious" is almost an equal number of times translated "merciful." In the midst of this sin, I could continue in the shame and the guilt, but what I understand — not to be presumptuous — is God's grace, God's mercy, and God's forgiveness.

I don't know how He is going to play this out. Imagine David. He has heard this prophetic utterance of doom upon him from Nathan. God is going to do this. The sword is going to come. Your family will turn against each other. David can only conclude, I assume, that this is part of that. But who knows what God is doing? Maybe He is trying to teach me a lesson through the sickness.

All David knows is that he is going to go and plead with God in the midst of this. Do we see how it is absolutely appropriate — fair, the right response — for us to pray, to beseech Him? But at the end of the day, it is God's decision. God is going to do what God is going to do.

Then why do we pray? Because He has told us to pray. And because in some instances, it seems as though those prayers are actually essential in some way to God working things out. Now, if that sounds vague and contradictory, that is because it is. "You have not because you ask not." He also says you ask but with the wrong motive. Listen — ask. But ultimately, it depends upon Him. David gets it.

David Comforts Bathsheba

Not only that — and I don't mean this in a harsh way — but some people could just live in this moment of grief for a long time. David also understands that life goes on, and I don't say that in an uncaring or flippant way. He goes right in and comforts Bathsheba. It never occurred to me as I was putting this together — I was so focused on David that I never saw how difficult this had to be for her.

Think about her. She was pulled by the king into this relationship over which she really had little control. Her husband had been killed. She discovered she was pregnant, and that is why her husband was killed. Now she is with this man, and she has this child. My assumption is she loves this child deeply. This child is ill. And now the child dies. Think about how difficult that had to be for her.

So David, understanding that, in one of those genuinely remarkable moments, comforts her. And somewhere along the way, he lays with her, and they have a son. David named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, because Jedidiah means "beloved of the Lord." He named him Jedidiah for the Lord's sake.

Here, David — here is that promise. Here is a picture of grace. He is beloved of the Lord. This will be the continuation of the line. This is the one who will receive the crown and occupy the throne.

The Sword Does Not Depart

Now, I want to close that out, because what happens between the end of verse 25 and the end of this chapter — the heading in my Bible simply says "war again." They are all fighting again. Remember the promise? The sword will never depart from your house. There is going to be battle. And there is battle.

So here is David. He goes through this incredible experience. He learns from it. We don't see him at this depth again. Yet we also see him, at this very moment, become a deeply inadequate father. He has options, and he does not parent well — perhaps even driven by these circumstances himself. Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 2 says this: "You shall remember all the way the Lord your God has led you out of the wilderness these forty days, that He might humble you, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." David passes that test. David gets it.

There are key moments in David's life where he has an opportunity to move out on his own, and we find him, more often than not, reflectively returning to God. Even in the moment of a harsh decision, responding to something he has done, he will go back and say, "I can trust God. God is going to deal with it. God is going to provide."

The Curse Begins to Play Out

Remember, there was a curse on the household — within the household itself. We see that begin to play out in chapter 13. It is after this that Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar. And Amnon the son of David loved her. Amnon was frustrated because of his sister — she was a virgin, and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. This man is in love with his half-sister, which is prohibited by the Old Testament law. He wants her. So he pretends to be sick.

In verse 7, David tells Tamar to take something over to Amnon — to bring him food. She takes it to him, and Amnon says, "Come in here. Bring it so I can eat from your hand. I am so weak I cannot feed myself." Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into his bedroom. And when she brought them to him, he took hold of her. Verse 11 — he said, "Lay with me." She struggled. Verse 14 — he would not listen to her. All of her reasoning, all of her explanation of why this was wrong, why it was inappropriate, why it was sin against God and harmful to the nation — he did not listen. He took her. He violated her. He raped her.

There is something striking in verse 15. He finally gets what he wants, and immediately he has great hatred for her. He says, "Now get out of here." In response to that, verse 21 tells us that David heard of all this and he was angry. Absalom did not speak to Amnon for two years because of what Amnon had done. So essentially, David hears about it, he is angry — but he did not act.

David's Failure as a Father

Absalom hears about it, doesn't confront it, and doesn't do anything. There are serious problems in this family. No communication, no talking — the approach is to pretend this doesn't exist. It is that kind of mentality: don't speak it, don't address it. We see David here in a picture of his failures as a father. He doesn't deal with Amnon, and ultimately that has to be dealt with. He doesn't deal with Absalom either. There is no parenting going on here at all.

Absalom can't handle it anymore. So in verse 28, he says to his servants, "Here is the plan. We are going to bring Amnon to dinner. We are going to feed him. We are going to get him to the point where, verse 18, his heart is merry with wine — he'll be drunk. And then I will say to you, strike Amnon. And you will kill him. Don't be afraid. I'm in control. Don't be worried about the king or anything else. Do what I say."

Sure enough, Amnon comes to dinner. In verse 29, the servants did to Amnon just as Absalom had commanded. All the king's sons arose, each mounted his mule, and they fled. In verse 37, Absalom flees, and we are told in verse 38 that he is gone for three years. David longs to go to Absalom but doesn't. We see David in an absolutely passive role — he doesn't move at all, and he is also mourning the loss of a son.

Five Years of Silence

In chapter 14, verse 21, the king says to Joab — David says to Joab — "This has gone on long enough. Something has to happen here. You go to Absalom and bring him to me." So Joab goes to Absalom, has this conversation, and in verse 28 Absalom comes home. He lives two years in Jerusalem but does not see the king. They are in a city of around eleven square miles. They know exactly where each other are, they know their own houses, they are in separate houses, and there is no interaction at all for two years. Essentially, there has been no interaction at all for five years.

At this point Absalom can't take it anymore. He says to Joab, "Can you fix this somehow? Can you do something to put this back together? Is there some way we can make this right?" So Joab goes to David. And in verse 33, when Joab came to the king and told him, Absalom was summoned. He came to the king, prostrated himself on his face to the ground before the king, and the king kissed Absalom.

Let me read that from The Message. Verse 33: "Joab went to the king and told him what was going on. Absalom was summoned and then he came and he bowed deeply in reverence before David and the king kissed him." And that is the end of the scene.

What Is Missing

Now, is there anything missing here? Here is what I do see: I see David, though he has failed royally for five years, finally saying, "All right, come on home — you are forgiven." What I don't see — what is missing — is any repentance on Absalom's part at all. There is no mention of repentance. In fact, when we get to chapter 15, in the very next scene, Absalom comes up with a whole conspiracy to overthrow David, run him out of Jerusalem, and take over the throne. No repentance. We will pick up in chapter 15 next week.

A Man After God's Own Heart

I want to spend about ten minutes on this idea of God's ability to see David's heart and to see Absalom's heart. David, in the small segment we have seen, is a murderer, an adulterer, and a pathetic father. But God describes him as a man after His own heart. How can that be?

I think it is because of what we looked at last week — that when David is confronted with his sin, he doesn't excuse it. Women seem to be a significant and recurring problem for David, and he falls into that sin again. But he deals with his sin. He confesses it. He understands what God desires, which is a broken heart, and God sees that heart broken.

Receiving Grace vs. Giving It

I was on summer vacation watching an interview — James Brown, the one who works for CBS, not the other James Brown — interviewing Michael Vick. I don't know a thing about Michael Vick personally, but everything I saw in that interview was exactly what you would hope to see. I don't know what more Michael Vick could do other than remain consistent in his behavior over time. He has responded extraordinarily and has said all the right things.

Now, there is something in you, even as you hear that, that makes you suspicious. You think: well, there's a PR firm, there's someone telling him what to say. We are not very good at receiving grace, and we are even worse at giving it. I understand that. I understand you have been burned by that.

We were talking before the service about David Berkowitz — the Son of Sam. Someone told me that if you go online and find the interview on YouTube, there is a six-part interview that is absolutely riveting and compelling. This man has been touched by the grace of God. He has converted and given his life to Christ, not denying at all what he did. He even says, "I am totally responsible for it, but I believe I was absolutely possessed by a demon." Totally responsible, and yet touched by grace.

Add to that list Jeffrey Dahmer — the man who was sexually assaulting young boys, murdering them, and consuming them.

Grace, Justice, and the Unlikely Residents of Heaven

David Berkowitz — the Son of Sam killer — supposedly, and we know this part for a fact, claimed to know Christ and was baptized in prison before he was killed by another prisoner. Imagine that. So God is going to prepare a place for you — a mansion, a house in heaven. And you are here, and David Berkowitz is here, and Jeffrey Dahmer is here. You are in heaven, but you are locking the doors at night. If you are a visitor, you are going, "Wow, really?" If you do not cringe at that, that is grace. You are screaming for justice, and God is designed with a desire to give him grace.

Only the Troubled Find God

In an interview, James Brown said that most people, when they are in trouble, claim to find God. I want to play with that phrase a little — change a word or two. Only people who are in trouble will find God. Now, not everybody who gets in trouble says, "I have found Jesus." But only people who realize they are in trouble will find Christ.

I have a friend who is a Christian. His dad is not. His dad hates Christ and hates Christians, and he has a real cynical spirit about a whole bunch of things — but especially about missionaries. He defines a missionary as a loser. "They can't cut it here. Losers chasing losers." All my friends get upset about that. But no — that is exactly right. We are a bunch of losers chasing a bunch of other losers. There are no winners. We are a bunch of losers. Now, we are redeemed losers at this point, but we are losers by the world's economy. That is what chapter one of First Corinthians is about: not many wise, not many powerful. We are losers going after other losers in God's sight.

The Crutch

The same thing came up with the word "crutch." I had not been a Christian very long and did not know all the lingo, and someone told me, "I'm glad you found something that works for you, but your Christian faith is just a crutch." I go through spurts where I use a dictionary — now that I have the iPhone, I use one a lot. We will be in a conversation using a word we all use all the time, but I am not sure we know exactly what it means. There can be five of us in a room with five little nuances to the same word, and it is always helpful to stop and say, "This is what that word means — are we all agreed?"

So I looked up "crutch." Paraphrasing from what was an old dictionary, it said: a wooden instrument, used with a crossbar at the top, for the lame or infirm, to ease and support them when they walk. And I said, "That is exactly what my Christian faith is." I am lame. I am infirm. Forgiven now — not dead, but alive, still with this flesh, still attracted to sin, still with internal lusts and desires that can be stimulated by external things and lead me somewhere. That is who I am. But in the midst of hardship, difficulties, and trials, it is that faith that sustains me to walk through all of it. I love that.

The Poor in Spirit

That is exactly how Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" — the spiritually bankrupt. Only those who see themselves as sinners can ever understand that they need a Savior. And it is incumbent upon us — it will totally determine our response and the depth of our relationship with God — until we understand the depth of our sin. When we understand the depth of our sin, we will immediately spring into an attitude of gratitude, praise, and worship.

What Worship Actually Requires

We come in here, we do music, and we call that worship. We have a time of communion, a little more worship, and then a lesson. I am fine with that. I do not argue about it. But it is amazing how much time is wasted arguing about worship — arguing about the style of music or whatever. We have six services and three different venues, with three different styles of music on a Sunday. That is not going to appeal to everybody, but it should reach most people.

What I am not fine with is when someone says, "I really need you to create an environment of worship." I will tell you how to create that real fast, because that is not our job. Our job is for you to understand who God is, who you are, and how He has responded to you.

Haley and the Blood Draw

A couple of weeks ago, our summer vacation started with Haley being in the hospital for a couple of days. I spent the night there with her the first night, and I was awake the whole night. At four o'clock, a nurse came in and said she needed to wake Haley up to get a blood draw. No problem. She finished the blood draw, and Haley said to her, "Thank you."

Now let me ask you this: when somebody comes to you and jams a needle in your arm and takes out the fluid that allows you to exist, is your instinct to say thank you? No — you say thank you when you understand how desperate and

A Heart That Sees Its Own Sin

When you understand how sinful you are, you understand who God is. Then, just as we looked last week in Psalm 51, your heart is saying, "Be gracious to me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; my sin is ever before me." It is eating you alive. David says it this way: "For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it to you. You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit and a contrite heart." That is the attitude you need.

I am absolutely convinced that I am not nearly thankful enough. My day is ruined most of the time by the light at McQueen and Elliott. That light drives me nuts. It is numerically, mathematically impossible for it to be red every time I get there — but it is, every single time. I was there this morning at 4:40, and it was red. It cannot be, but it is.

I got through the light Thursday morning and was on to Elliott, heading downtown to teach. Then — beep, beep, beep — I was out of gas. I hate buying gas. I hate anything that is slightly inconvenient to me. But God did something to me that Thursday morning. He put in me an attitude that said, "God, thank you. I have a car to put gas into. Thank you that I have gas. Thank you that there is a place to buy gas." Thank you that I have money to pay for it. That changed my whole day.

That list goes on and on. Thank you that I had the ability to walk in here. If you did not walk in, you came in a wheelchair — and thank you that you are here in that wheelchair. God, thank you for every one of these things, because I deserve none of them. Considering the fact that we deserve hell, anything else is a pretty good day. That is how you get to that place of gratitude in your heart and in mine.

Absalom Never Comes to Grips with His Sin

I see that gratitude missing in an absolute and major way in this man. Absalom never comes to grips with his sin — at least not in the portion of the story we have covered. So what happens? He bows down before the king and cries real tears, and it seems as though things will come back together. But just one verse later, he is going to become part of the very prophecy God gave — that God would throw David's house into absolute turmoil. We will pick up right there next week.

Father, help us see this amazing truth. Thank you for Your word. Remind us that not most people, but only people who have a clear view of their own sin — who have trouble with who they are — will ever find You. God, if You do that work in our lives, we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.