Daily Manna from Heaven

By Dr. Harlod Sala

“When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.” -2 Samuel 11:26-27

“There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him,” wrote Solomon 3,000 years ago. Numbers three and four on that list of character disorders which the Bible calls sins are “hands that shed innocent blood,” and “a heart that devises wicked schemes.”

I have no way of knowing whether Solomon thought of the circumstances of his own family, especially involving his own father and mother, but he well could have. His father was David; his mother, Bathsheba. “In the spring, at the time when kings go to war,” begins 2 Samuel 11:1, David stayed at home. One evening when he was on the rooftop of his palace, he saw a beautiful woman bathing–the woman who eventually became Solomon’s mother. Do you remember the story how David took Bathsheba and slept with her? After all, he was the king, and he was not accustomed to having anyone deny him.

But then when Bathsheba became pregnant as the result of this adulterous affair, David’s conscience began to deeply trouble him. Bathsheba was married to another man, and a good man, at that. For David to take Bathsheba as his wife, Uriah had to be destroyed, and it had to appear to be a grave accident. Without taking time to recount the details which I would encourage you to read for yourself, if ever a man devised a wicked scheme and shed innocent blood, it was David who was responsible, completely and fully for the death of Uriah, the rightful husband of Bathsheba.

Just a minute, you may be thinking. Is this not the one who took a sling shot and in the name of the Lord, went against Goliath? Is this not the one who wrote, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me…” (Psalm 23:1, KJV). And, of course, the answer to all these questions is yes.

Should you take the time to ponder the six things which God hates and look at the life of David, you will find an example of almost every one in David’s life. He was proud and arrogant. He lied. His hands shed innocent blood. His heart devised the wicked scheme to put Uriah in the forefront of the battle, then order the troops to pull out leaving him exposed to the enemy. His feet rushed to do evil, and he deliberately hurt the woman who became the object of his lust.

Though Solomon did not mention his father’s adulterous affair with his mother, he undoubtedly thought of the consequences which followed his wrongdoing: the death of his half-brother who was the love child of David and Bathsheba, the public humiliation which came as the result of his sin and the ongoing conflicts which resulted in his personal, immediate family because of what David did.

But–and this is the point that I want you to get–there is forgiveness and healing for our wrongdoing, no matter what it may be. As the Psalmist–perhaps David himself–wrote, “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared” (Psalm 130:4). David paid a price for his wrongdoing–a substantial one, yet in repentance he poured out his heart before God and asked for God to restore the joy of his salvation (see Psalm 51).

Friend, if you see yourself in these six things which God hates, do what David did. Confess your wrongdoing, forsake it, and find God’s strength to overcome your human weakness. This is what grace is about.

*“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”*

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So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved. Ephesians 1:7, Living Bible

Two teen aged boys confessed to stealing the body of an elderly woman from its grave, decapitating it with an ax and burning the head because they wanted the skull as an “oddity”. Judge Rufus Jefferson sentenced the boys to a reform school, but suspended the sentence on condition they spend their spare time cleaning up paupers’ graves in local cemeteries.

The headless body of the 81 year old woman was found by a hunter on a remote island. When the youths were apprehended they told police that they decapitated the body with an ax, threw the body in a lake, and burned the head to remove the skin. One of the youths was quoted as saying, “We just forget about it except when we try to sleep and things like that.”

There are a lot of individuals who, like the boys, would like to forget, but forgetting is not easy. Conscience is a silent sentinel who reminds us of the wrongs we have done, especially when we try to sleep. When a person has violated his personal convictions whether it is a written law or only not doing something that should have been done he feels guilty. Forgiveness is the only thing that can permanently remove that guilt.

The director of a large English mental institution was quoted as saying, “I could dismiss half of my patients tomorrow if they could be assured of forgiveness.” Another authority adds, “It has been claimed that some 60 percent of these patients are suffering in some degree from a guilt complex.” It is understood why the two boys feel guilty and cannot sleep when they have unearthed and decapitated a body from an unmarked grave. Much of the work of modern psychotherapy deals with people who feel guilty and do not know why they feel as they do.

Have you ever noticed how seriously the Bible takes the problem of guilt? In this regard Christianity is unique. It recognizes guilt as a very real and spiritually detrimental force that can and should be dealt with. The Bible says that people are guilty because they have violated God’s standard for right living. We have chosen our way over God’s way. Ours is selfish; His is loving; ours is characterized by the attitude, “What’s in it for me?”; while His is described by the beautiful words, “For God so loved that He gave.” Dr. O. Hobart Mower, a past president of the American Psychology Association, has stated that guilt can be removed only by confession and expiation.

In this, the Bible and the psychiatrist are in general agreement. Do you know that the Bible says man is guilty because he has sinned against God? It does not stop with condemnation, but reveals that forgiveness is possible. It comes as the result of confession. Forgiveness was made possible by the death of Christ long ago. Confession–acknowledging our sins and wrongdoing– is God’s psychiatry. It is His way of ridding our souls, no less than purging them, of the guilt that harasses us.

Perhaps you are thinking, “You are right. Confession is important, but isn’t it all in your mind? Wouldn’t it be just as good if you went out and confessed to a fence post?” If a fence post could grant forgiveness, I would be quick to say, “Certainly, go ahead.” But forgiveness comes not by going through the motions of telling someone how you feel, but by the authority of the person who grants forgiveness. Only God can offer forgiveness, and this is why Christianity is unique. Come clean with God. Do away with nice, polite, over the fence conversations with Him! He knows you and He offers forgiveness and cleansing to those who seek it.

Resource reading: Ephesians 5:1-21.

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“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”
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