There are many amazing heroes in the Bible. There are warriors, missionaries, leaders, slaves, all with incredible testimonies of God’s power. My favorite hero, though, has always been King David. Other than being my namesake, he is also a great soldier, a man after God’s own heart, an anointed musician, and the writer of half of the hymns in the book of Psalms. And he was also good looking.
David started as a shepherd for his father, and then became the king of Judah, and later on, all of Israel. He pretty much had it all going for him, even with Saul trying to kill him over and over again. However, theologists and preachers alike always like pointing out one story in David’s life: his sin with Bathsheba. Now, it is a valid point to make that nobody is perfect, and that even the man after God’s own heart was, as my youth pastor once said, “a mess.” I’m not bashing that. But we dwell too much on this one place in scripture, constantly reminding ourselves that people in Bible times had failings, too. Why? Because it gives us a cop-out. We can say, “David committed adultery, and my sin isn’t nearly as bad as his.” We can safely sin and excuse our mistakes away.
David’s life is one of the few that is almost completely laid out for us, from early adolescence to death. And it is true, nobody’s perfect. But out of the seventy or so years of his life, there are four places in scripture where David sinned before the Lord. Four! And countless stories of David defeating enemies, taking cities, killing rulers, and talking with the Lord. My point is this; all of the heroes in the Bible, not just David, had their story told. Their entire story. The good, the bad, and the ugly, and nothing was left out. And if Christians today want to have their story told the same way that heroes like David did, they need to live like their entire story, not just the highlights, will be recounted. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure that most people nowadays would need more than one hand to count their sins if their life story were told. So what should we do? Flee temptation, live justly, chase after God’s own heart, and be willing for the world to hear about our failings as well as our victories.
