2 Samuel 12:7-15 ESV

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.

I know, this is a really strange passage of scripture to use to learn about parenting. Let me explain why I would choose to start here. I want to be a good parent. It is my belief that I can avoid making certain parenting mistakes if I look at the lives of others and learn from their mistakes.

David was a great man of God. But he failed in a majorly, spectacularly way – he got another man’s wife pregnant and ordered the man murdered to cover it up. I’m guessing that David thought that he had done a pretty good job of covering it up. Except he forgot one very important piece of information – God sees everything.

God wasn’t fooled by David’s schemes to hide his sin. He had some very severe words for David.

Verse 9 – Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?

Verse 10 – Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house…

Verses 14 – by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord

It is really easy to think that we can hide our sin or that it won’t affect anyone. But God tells David that his secret actions would have public consequences. As you read the rest of the life of David, disfunction takes over his family. One son rapes his sister and is murdered by another son because of it. David fails to properly discipline his sons. Several sons attempt to steal his throne. During one of these attempts, David has to run for his life to escape being killed.

Here is my take away David’s parenting – if you want to be a good parent, stay far away from sin. It will affect your family. It may not be a dramatic as in David’s family, but it will affect your attitude, behavior and responses. Don’t allow your sin to affect the impressionable and precious people you are raising.