2 Samuel 12:13-18: a reflection

13David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin. You will not die. 14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the LORD’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.” 15Then Nathan departed to his house. The LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he was very sick. 16David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth; but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them. 18On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him and he didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself if we tell him that the child is dead?”

After David's grievous sin, the prophet Nathan confronts him, and David confesses simply, I have sinned against the LORD. Nathan's reply is immediate grace: The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. David is fully and freely forgiven. And yet, in the same breath, Nathan says that consequences will follow: the child born of the sin will die. David's honest confession met with real forgiveness, and yet the earthly consequences of his sin still unfolded, and David grieved and pleaded with God through them.

Notice the two truths held together, hard as they are. David's sin was truly forgiven; God put it away, and did not deal with David as his sin deserved. And yet forgiveness did not erase all the earthly consequences of what he had done; those still played out, painfully. Forgiveness removed the guilt and restored the relationship, but it did not undo every result of the sin in the world.

That is a sobering and important truth for us. God's forgiveness is real and full; when we confess, he puts away our sin and does not hold it against us. But forgiveness does not always undo the earthly consequences of our choices; sometimes we must still live with the results of what we have done, even as forgiven people. This is not God withholding forgiveness, but the reality that sin has effects in the world that grace does not always reverse. When you have sinned, confess it and receive God's full forgiveness gratefully. But do not be surprised if consequences remain; bear them as a forgiven child, leaning on the God who has put away your sin even as you live with its results, and trusting his grace to meet you in them.

Lord, when David confessed his sin, Nathan assured him that you had put it away, and yet consequences still followed. Help me hold both truths. Thank you that your forgiveness is real and full, that when I confess, you put away my sin and do not hold it against me. But help me not to be surprised when the earthly consequences of my choices remain, even as a forgiven person. Teach me that this is not you withholding forgiveness, but the reality that sin has effects grace does not always reverse. When I must live with the results of what I have done, help me bear them as your forgiven child, leaning on the grace that has put away my guilt, and trusting you to meet me in the consequences. Thank you that my sin is forgiven, whatever remains.