Day Three Hundred Fourteen “Scars”
One moment of distraction and it happened. I was busy working my evening job behind the deli counter of a small family-owned store close to my home. I was exhausted, working as many hours as I could squeeze into a week, trying to eke out enough money to pay for my college tuition and fees. As I grabbed a sharp knife and prepared to cut the outer skin off a fresh roll of pepperoni so that it could be sliced for my customer, I lost concentration for just a moment and before I knew what happened, I was at the local ER having my finger stitched. Decades later, the neurological function in the finger is still poor and the scar remains, a constant reminder that it only takes a second for an unpleasant event with lasting consequences to take place.
“Thou art the man.” Those four simple words seared David’s soul like a branding iron. In a moment of carelessness, this king would fall into sin, a sin of lust that would snowball into adultery and murder. When Nathan, the prophet, confronts David, he would slyly use a parable to rouse the ire of David. Nathan weaves the story of a poor man who owns “one little ewe lamb,” and that lamb is stolen, killed, and “dressed” as a meal for a rich man who owned “many flocks and herds” of his own. David is enraged, until he realized that he was indeed that man, a man who stole what rightly belonged to Uriah.
David humbly admits that he had “sinned against the LORD.” God forgives His servant, but the consequences of that sin would scar David’s life permanently. An unborn child would die, his sons Amnon, Absalom, and Adonjah would experience violent deaths, a coup of his kingdom would be initiated by his own heir, but worst of all, he had “given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme.” David would pen Psalm 32 and 51 to express his intense feelings of guilt and repentance.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Praise God for His mercy toward us, His willingness to forgive, to help us back onto our feet when we have fallen. But be cautious when temptation arrives on the scene, for the scars and consequences of that sin can last for a lifetime. But as we bear those ugly scars, we can find comfort in the words of David, a man who fell, confessed, sought forgiveness, but carried some scars: “Restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Lord, thank You, that even though we may have sin scars, You can restore the joy of our salvation.
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