But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
– 2 Samuel 11:27b
A statement, this sentence that summarizes David’s sin against Bathsheba and Uriah, and I won’t recount all the details of 2 Samuel 11, but this verse summarizes the offense of sin against God.
2 Samuel 11:27 urges us to see sin as destructive to ourselves and others.
Sin is an offense in so many ways. It’s an offense against ourselves, like we are choosing evil over good, which leads to our destruction. Sin is an offense against ourselves. It’s offensive against others, and we’ll pray in 2 Samuel 13 about the effects of our sin on others. Surely, that’s the case here in 2 Samuel 11. At the core, though, sin is an offense against God. When you read Psalm 51, which David writes after this, he writes, “Against you, you only have a sin.”
He’s not saying that his sin has only been against God, but he is saying that is the primary weight of sin, that it is displeasing to God. And I just want to encourage us when we are convicted of sin in our lives, that we see it first and foremost as displeasing to the Lord, and that we feel the weight in that sense of sin against God in ways that will lead us as we confess our sin to feel the wonder of God’s grace toward us.
But I think if we’re not careful, we can be quick to celebrate grace without feeling the seriousness and the weight of sin. We need to 2 Samuel 11:27, realize that any sin in our lives, so don’t categorize it as small or big. Any sin is displeasing to God in a way that should lead us to not just confession, but sorrowful confession before God.
2 Samuel 11:27 calls us to sorrowful repentance.
God, I’m sorry that I have displeased you, that I’ve dishonored you, that I’ve disobeyed you. So God, we pray that you would help each of us to feel the weight of displeasure that our sin is to you. God, help us in the moment where we sin, to experience the conviction of your Holy Spirit. Help us to pause regularly in our lives to reflect on any ways in which we are thinking, speaking, desiring, and living in a way that is displeasing to you.
And God, we pray for a spirit of sorrowful repentance of sin in each of our lives. God, please help us not to treat sin lightly. Help us not to casually just say, “Oh, that’s just a thought. It was just a desire, just a word. It was just small action.” God, help us to see sin as displeasing to you in a way that leads us to honest, humble, sorrowful confession and the wonder of your grace that covers over our sin.
Jesus, we praise you for dying on the cross for our sin. God, help us to feel the weight of even that. Yes, the seriousness of our sin that leads to death, and the wonder of your grace that forgives us of all our sin when we turn to you, trust in you, when we repent and believe the gospel. Oh Jesus, we praise you for dying on the cross to cover over all the displeasure we have brought and are prone to bring in our lives to you, oh God. Oh, and God, please help us to spread this good news of your grace and your mercy of forgiveness from sin to people all around us and people all around the world.
Prayer for the Utkala Brahmin People
God, we pray for the Utkala Brahmin people today, this highest of the caste groups in India and other parts of South Asia, 200,000 of them who are often leaders, whether politically, intellectually, spiritually, or socially in Hinduism.
Lord, we pray, please cause the good news of Jesus, forgiveness of sin, reconciliation to you, the one true God, to spread to the Utkala Brahmin people that they might be reconciled to you by your grace that covers over their sin. God, please, may it be so. Oh God, please help us even now as this short podcast episode closes to reflect on, examine our hearts. Is there anything in us that is displeasing to you?
We pray you help us to confess it, repent of it with sorrow over our sin and by your grace, by your mercy to turn from it and to live in the light that you’ve made possible for us to live in freedom from sin, freedom to please and honor and glorify you and experience life to the full in you. God, we want to experience all of that. So help us to see sin for what it is in our lives as displeasing to you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the 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, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
