Heart-shattered lives……

Of course, we all know that everything single thing that we do has consequences – far-reaching consequences – for ourselves and for other people. This has been described as the butterfly effect –

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.  The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the metaphorical example of the details of a hurricane (exact time of formation, exact path taken) being influenced by minor perturbations such as the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly several weeks earlier.    Wikipedia

And then, of course, if we spent too much time over-thinking this, it would actually paralyse us and render us incapable of action for fear of damaging someone else’s life.

But it is good to be reminded that each one of us is significant. Each one of us makes a difference. For good and for bad.

Let’s consider David for example. He had plenty of consequences to face for his night of passion with his neighbour’s wife. We left him with the knowledge that Bathsheba had become pregnant – so how is he going to get out of that one?

CONSEQUENCES

• Bathsheba falls pregnant to a man who is not her husband – and that man is the king
• David calls Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband back from the frontline to get him to sleep with his wife so that the adultery can be covered up and the baby carried off as Uriah’s own – deceit and manipulation at work
• Even when David gets drunk, Uriah refuses to sleep with his wife when his fellow men are still engaged in battle – David didn’t seem to have had that problem, did he?
• David now realises that he has to get rid of Uriah somehow – see how something relatively simple has quickly descended down the slippery slope – to murder.
• David puts pressure on his commander Joab to send Uriah into the thick of the battle and then command all the other men to withdraw – thus compromising the integrity of Joab and taking the life of an innocent man.
• Bathsheba mourns her husband’s death.
• David takes Bathsheba as his wife and she bears him a son.
• ‘But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.’  2 Samuel 11:27

David does not seem to be aware that he has done anything wrong until the prophet Nathan comes to him with a story –

“There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!  2 Samuel 12:1-7

Sometimes it takes someone completely outside the situation to speak truth into a situation. That’s what good friends are for. We are very good at justifying our actions to ourselves, aren’t we?

LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.

Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.

The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.’  2 Samuel 12:7-14

David now realises the wrong he has done. He fasts and weeps for his son. But the lovechild of David and Bathsheba falls sick and dies.

David is going to have to carry the consequences of his actions with him for the rest of his life. How is he ever going to come back from this? The guilt must be crushing. He has let God down. He has let his people down. How can he still be king? (cue the Eastenders drum roll………)

He starts where we should all start – getting right with God. In the book of Psalms, there’s a psalm – Psalm 51 – which is described as having been written when Nathan confronts David about Bathsheba. These are David’s words to God – in a modern paraphrase that some may find helpful –

You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
    it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
    whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
    in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
    Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
    set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
    give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
    and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
    I’ll let loose with your praise.

Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
    a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
    when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
    don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.