Grace

I gave you his house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah and stolen his wife. From this time on, the sword will be a constant threat to your family, because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
2 Samuel 12:8-10

When my two children were born, I assumed that each would be a star athlete someday. I pictured my son hitting home runs, throwing touchdown passes, dunking basketballs. My daughter would certainly be an Olympic-caliber gymnast, volleyball player, or soccer star. Yet both went on to have careers in music. I was, I have to admit, frustrated. Musicians were all well and good, I thought, but they weren’t athletic heroes.

In my disappointment I was at the risk of committing the sin the prophet Nathan warns David against in 2 Samuel 2:12: the sin of despising God’s grace. God had given me two talented children who loved him and wanted to serve him, yet I was frustrated because thet were not what I wanted them to be.

Thank God I did not miss his grace. I have come to love and deeply appreciate the talents my children have so graciously been given.

David, too, had been abundantly gifted bu God, as the above text indicates: a kingship, and entire nation, and even the former king’s harem. But it wasn’t enough. David wanted more, and he pursued and slept with Bathsheba, another man’s wife. In the process David committed murder, adultery, and, according to Nathan, the even more grievous sin of despising God’s grace.

—Paul Borden