The Consequences of Selective Obedience

While God offers mercy for the sin and pardon for the transgressor—thankfully—the fruit of sinful living is often reaped along the way as we live out the rest of our lives, and worse yet, in the lives of the generations that follow us. If King David could speak to us today, I am quite sure that he would say, “do what you must to kill sin in your lives. Believe me, if you don’t, it will inflict untold pain upon you and your children.” Sounds ominous, but sin is a fact with which all of us must contend. The point being, deal with your weaknesses and temptations now—ruthlessly—and commit to 100% obedience to God. You will never regret your harsh treatment of personal sin. And if you have sinned, pray for a crop failure!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Chronicles 3:1-3

These are the sons of David who were born in Hebron: The oldest was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel. The second was Daniel, whose mother was Abigail from Carmel. The third was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur. The fourth was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith. The fifth was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital. The sixth was Ithream, whose mother was Eglah, David’s wife.

First of all, let’s recognize that David was arguably the greatest king Israel ever knew. He was not perfect, yet he had an incredibly tender heart toward the Lord. He sinned—early and often, bigly and with flair—but he always humbled himself before God in repentance after both his private and public missteps. Incredibly flawed, David was, yet God himself declared David to be a man after God’s own heart. (Acts 13:22). God found David’s trust so enchanting that he declared through his lineage would come the greatest king of all, much greater than even David: the Son of David, Jesus the Christ.

Having said that, we also have to acknowledge David’s very public shortcomings. When you are king of a nation, everything about you is public: the good that you do, the power and authority that you wield, and yes, the gaffs, missteps and moral failures that you commit. One of David’s greatest failures was that he married many wives. Perhaps it was simply the custom of ancient Middle Eastern kings to have many wives that David embraced, or maybe there was a part of David that allowed kingly power to go to his head—the power to have whatever he wanted, including multiple wives, or maybe David had a woman-problem, that is, he liked the ladies a little too much.

Whatever the case, he took to himself seven wives while he was king in Hebron. That’s right: seven. Not included in this list was Michal, the daughter of Saul who was given to David, then taken away, only to be taken back again once David became king over all Israel. (It’s a long story, but you can read about it in 2 Samuel 3). In addition to these seven, he then took additional wives when he reigned over the unified kingdom from Jerusalem. But anything more than one wife was a direct violation of Moses’ command to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 17:14-17.

You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there, you may think, “We should select a king to rule over us like the other nations around us.” If this happens, be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite; he may not be a foreigner. The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has told you, “You must never return to Egypt.” The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord. And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.

“Taking many wives for himself”—it was this very thing that led to untold tragedy in David’s life as it played out over the next fifty years until his death. Yes, he was a man after God’s heart. Yes, his lineage produced some incredible kings, and ultimately the King of kings. But his selective obedience in this area of moral weakness opened the door to adultery, conspiracy to murder, murder, cover-up, rebellion in his family, open warfare with his son, and the death of several of his children as they attempted to usurp his throne.

The thing is, sin has consequences. Of course, God offers mercy for the sin and pardon for the transgressor, but the fruit of sinful living is often reaped along the way as we live out the rest of our lives, and worse yet, in the lives of the generations that follow us. If David could speak to us today, I am quite sure that he would say, “do what you must to kill sin in your lives. Believe me, if you don’t, it will inflict untold pain upon you and your children.”

Sounds ominous, I know, and not too worthy of being devotional material. But it is a fact with which all of us must contend. The point being, deal with your weaknesses and temptations now—ruthlessly—and commit to 100% obedience to God. You will never regret your harsh treatment of personal sin.

And if you have sinned, pray for a crop failure!