David's Biggest Weakness

2 Samuel 11-13 are among the darkest times for David. It shows the weakness in this man of God and in his kids.

It's among the few times we see David actually make mistakes. Usually we focus on the big mistake: sleeping with Bathsheba. But if you read all of these chapters there is another weakness that comes to light.

David was an avoider. He didn't like confrontation, especially when it came to problems with relationships. When it came to his sin with Bathsheba he did everything but confront Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. Instead he made up all this stuff to try to either obscure his sin or destroy the man.

Then when David's son Amnon raped his sister Tamar, and Absalom killed Amnon, David did nothing. We know he was angry but we also know that David avoided confronting Absalom and even when his son returned from exile it took a huge blow up just to get the king to bring his son back.

I'm not trying to fault David, especially since many of us avoid conflict and confrontation. Part of the problem is we don't know how to "speak the truth in love."

I think the lesson we take from these chapters is by contrast. When relationships are broken we should really try to fix them, instead of ignoring them hoping they'll get better on their own. They rarely do.

Pastor Tom