“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”
– 2 Samuel 11:27
What a short summary statement of one of the saddest chapters in David’s life and this part of the bible for sure. David sinned with Bathsheba, described in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12 would have huge ramifications for David’s life, family, leadership, for the rest of his life and not just for him. For others, for Bathsheba, of course for her husband Uriah who died as a result of David’s sin. For the child that would be born to Bathsheba and would die. We could spend a lot of time talking about the affects of sin on David’s life and leadership and many others, but this summary statement is a clear reminder of where it all started. The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
God, Show Us Where We Displease You
Lord help us to see areas of our lives where we are not pleasing You.
This is the essence of sin in your life and my life. We sin when we displease God. When we do what we want to do, what we think is good, what we desire, what we think is right instead of keeping our eyes fixed on God and saying, “What do you say is good? What do you say is right? What do you desire?”
So, 2 Samuel 11:27 causes me, I pray causes you, to examine your heart before God right now and for us to ask what in our lives, what in our thinking, in our desiring, in the way we speak and the way we act and what we are doing and what we are not doing, what in our lives is not pleasing to God? To realize that for anything that is not pleasing to God in our lives, the affects of that will be seen in a variety of different ways. Not just in our lives, but in the lives of people around us.
2 Samuel 11:27 Prays for Hearts that Listen to God’s Word
Let’s not underestimate the significance, the seriousness of what happens when you or I do anything at all that displeases the Lord. Oh God, we pray, I pray in my own life right now, I pray for those who are listening to this. We pray that you would bring things, everything to our minds and our hearts and our lives that is not pleasing to you right now. Help us to stop and listen. Even after this podcast episode is over, pray that people would just stop and listen and consider what in my life is not pleasing to you. God that you would show me in my life any and everything that is not pleasing to you. God, we confess right now in prayer that you know what is best. You know what is good. You know what is right and we are sinners.
We are so prone to think we know better than you what is good, we know better than you what is right. We desire things that are displeasing to you. So, God help us we pray. God, save us from our sin. Save us from ourselves. Jesus, we praise you. We praise you right now even as we think about our tendency to sin, our temptations to sin and our falling into sin. Just like David. Though to different degrees and at different times in our lives, God we are so prone to wander and we praise you Jesus for taking the price for all of our sin. Everything we have done that is displeasing before you, oh God. We praise you Jesus for paying the price for our sin. For dying on the cross as a substitute for us, for experiencing the judgment.
2 Samuel 11:27 Thanks God for His Grace
The holy wrath we deserve in our place. All glory be to your name. So, out of the overflow of gratitude to you, out of the overflow of your grace in our lives right now, help us to run from sin. Keep us from toying with it, rationalizing it, flirting with it. God, help us to run from it. To flee from it. Lord, help us in temptation to keep our eyes fixed on what is pleasing to you. We pray for that today. In every temptation we face today, please lift our eyes to you and help us to live lives that are pleasing to you. May it not be said of us today that we have done what displeases you.
Help us to live for your pleasure and in the process know that this will be good for us, this will be good for others and ultimately it will be glorifying to you. God, may that be true in our lives we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
