Why Me?

Conscience was uttering bitter and humiliating truths to David.

While his faithful subjects wondered at his sudden reverse of fortune, it was no mystery to the king. He had often had forebodings of an hour like this.

He had wondered that God had so long borne with his sins, and had delayed the merited retribution. And now in his hurried and sorrowful flight, . . . he thought of his loved capital—of the place which had been the scene of his sin—and as he remembered the goodness and long-suffering of God, he was not altogether without hope.

He felt that the Lord would still deal with him in mercy.

“Many a wrongdoer has excused his own sin by pointing to David’s fall, but how few there are who manifest David’s penitence and humility. . . . He had confessed his sin, and for years had sought to do his duty as a faithful servant of God; he had labored for the upbuilding of his kingdom, and under his rule it had attained to strength and prosperity never reached before. . . . Must the results of years of consecrated toil, . . . pass into the hands of his reckless and traitorous son, who regarded not the honor of God nor the prosperity of Israel? How natural it would have seemed for David to murmur against God in this great affliction!” The agony of spirit embedded in David’s penitential psalms is evident.

His pleading for forgiveness and deliverance is an example for us.

He does not hide his sins but makes them public so that others might learn from his mistakes. “And the Lord did not forsake David. This chapter in his experience, when, under cruelest wrong and insult, he shows himself to be humble, unselfish, generous, and submissive, is one of the noblest in his whole experience.” “When the righteous turn from their righteousness and do evil, their past righteousness will not save them from the wrath of a just and holy God.” Yet He is merciful and still ready to forgive the truly repentant.