May
7
Written by:
Route 365
5/7/2010 7:42 AM
written by by Melinda Messick
“Sin always has fine print.” I once heard a pastor make this comment about today’s scripture, and the notion has stuck with me. David began his sin innocently enough, by not being where he was supposed to be (v1), but quickly moved on to lust, adultery, murder, and lying. If David had “read the fine print” he may have realized that he would have to cover up his sin of adultery by covering up Bathsheba’s pregnancy. The consequences of David’s sin began to appear, just as specified in the “fine print.” Would he have chosen differently if he had known all that would follow?
I laugh, complain, and get angry about fine print. I sometimes think it just doesn’t apply to me. Often, I don’t understand or remember about all of the “fine print” that comes with sin. Sometimes, I’m not really sure of the “why” of something I read in the Bible. And complicating my muddy understanding is the reality that all fine print doesn’t apply equally to everyone. Some people take Benadryl, for example, and never experience drowsiness; I do.
Sometimes fine print is really long and unclear; it doesn’t make sense to me, until I experience it myself. I’ve found sin to be the same way. Perhaps I need to trust my Maker more when He says not to do something, even when I don’t understand why. So where does He fit in the story of David and Bathsheba anyway?
The only mention of God in this chapter is in the very last verse: “But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.” (v27) The “fine print” for sin includes consequences and punishment, but it also includes mercy and grace so extensive it fills 66 books!
Your Fellow Traveler,
Melinda
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