June 8, 2023
Thursday
Faithful Fathers: David
Psalm 51: 1-12
13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.”
It is not a matter of “if,” but of “when”—that moment when a father realizes he has sinned against his child. Perhaps it’s a moment of anger or a promise not kept, or a prolonged occupation with other things besides fatherhood leading to a loss of intimacy. Regardless of the reason, the failure brings a need for one thing, perhaps the hardest in a father’s life: confessing sin to a child and seeking forgiveness.
King David was far from a perfect father. Two of his sons, Amnon and Absalom, called David’s fatherhood into question by their acts. But the one thing David learned to do in perhaps his hardest moment was confess his sins. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and was complicit in the death of her husband, his sins were found out. To his credit, David confessed his sins to Nathan, the prophet, and to God in the heartfelt words of Psalm 51. David had many sons, most of whom we know little about. But we know they had a father who learned, painfully, to say, “I’m sorry.”
If you need to confess a failure to your child today, follow David’s example as a faithful father.
A point to ponder…
The way to cover our sin is to uncover it by confession.
Richard Sibbes
Read the Bible through in a year
I love you!!!
© 2000-2023 B. Michael Goerlich