Messed Up

“I messed up, it was me.”

King David was in a panic, he had been found out. The Prophet was there and he had just called him out on a pretty grotesque sin, a conspiracy really. King David had just had a man killed to cover the fact that he had slept with his wife and got her pregnant.

It was like a bomb had just went off in the room. King David was standing there, mouth agape, as the prophet Nathan reiterated, “You are the man!”

The last time King David could remember hearing something like this, he was just a boy. He had walked in and there was an old prophet in the room with his family. This wasn’t Nathan though, this was Samuel. Samuel called him over and said, “You’re the one.” As the smell of olive oil filled his nostrils, he realized it was being poured on his head.

What was happening? This was something reserved for kings. I’m not from a royal family. We are shepherds. The thoughts were overwhelming. Why was he being anointed king? Wasn’t Saul the one?

But now, now he was king. Now he realized that Saul wasn’t the only one who could mess up.

The prophecy that proceeded out of the mouth of the prophet hit King David in the face like a sledge hammer.

“Because of these sins, the sword will never depart from your house, God Himself will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And God will take you wives and give them to your neighbor, and he will have his way with them in the sight of the sun. What you did in private, God will do before all of Israel. The child that was conceived by your sinful act will die.”

Even though David cried, repented, fasted, and grieved over his sin, it didn’t do any good. The Word of the Lord had already gone forth.

David lost that child.

David’s family was filled with violence and sexual sin. A son of David rapes a daughter of David. Sons killing sons. Sons striking up a rebellion in the kingdom, etc. David’s own son taking all of Davids wives and concubines and sleeping with them on the roof of the palace for all to see. Every prophecy fulfilled.

In another story, there’s a man named Achan. He stole stuff out of Jericho. God had told them not to take certain things, Achan did what he wanted to. He even confessed when confronted, openly admitted his sins. But was still stoned and burned.

Two things these stories have in common. First, both men, David and Achan, KNEW what they were doing. They KNEW they had done wrong before ever being confronted with their sin. Second, they did not confess or repent BEFORE being confronted with their sin.

We must learn to confess our sin IMMEDIATELY. We should not wait till God has to send a special message. By then it is too late. When He has to send His prophet to call you out on your sin, you’re too late. The only time repentance saved people from the punishment was when God specifically said, “If you repent, I wont punish you.” Other than that, repentance didn’t stave off punishment.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is a promise to all believers, but we can’t wait for God to “hit us in the face with a sledge hammer.”

Confess your sins, now.