by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
God accomplished great things through David while his faith was steady and strong. One feature of the Bible is that it does not make a man look better than he actually is. With all of David’s victories and moments where his faith shined, inspiration demanded we learn about his weakness as well. The story of his lust for Bathsheba, his adultery, and his cover-up remains to taint a good man’s record and show us that one moment of weakness can cause a lot of damage. Many lessons can be learned from God’s record of David’s sins.<\/p>\n
One major lesson shows us that great men of faith sometimes lose a battle but not the war and what such men do when they fail. It took some pointed remarks by Nathan, but still, buried beneath the pride was a heart that normally wanted to do the right thing toward God and man. When David lost the battle of his lust and all that flooded him from that point, the thing that makes David still a great man of faith is the tenderness of his heart caused, again, by faith. When we lose a few battles due to weakness, faith tells us to repent, get back up out of the dirt, and try again.<\/p>\n
Faith brought him back to honest self-reflection and godly sorrow and repentance(2 Cor.7:7ff). Real faith makes a tender conscience, not a perfect man (Psalm 6:1-6). Real faith leans on God’s great mercy, not our own perfection (Psalm 25:6-11). Real faith knows the blessedness of forgiveness and utilizes it (Psalm 32:1-5). Real faith brings one to the mercy seat of God, confessing sins (Psalms 51; I John 1:7-19). Faith believes in God’s strength and God’s mercy.<\/p>\n
A man after God’s own heart is never the self-sufficient perfect man. Such does not exist. But real faith does not become satisfied to live in sin or to ignore his sins. Real faith comes before the holy God for mercy, strength, and renewal, and believes that we will ultimately be victorious through forgiveness and strength. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Faith to try again after failure is what made David a great man of faith and a blessed man.<\/p>\n
It still works that way for us today! Use faith through failures because that is what it is all about!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton God accomplished great things through David while his faith was steady and strong. One feature of the Bible is that it does not make a man look better than he actually is. With all of David’s victories and moments where his faith shined, inspiration demanded we learn about his weakness as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[111,49],"class_list":["post-79115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-david","tag-faith"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33950,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/david-a-childs-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":79115,"position":0},"title":"David – A Child’s Faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ross Ward Text: I Samuel 17:32-37 David's Faith David Overcame Vs. 33-35 - bear and lion 33 - a youth 34 - shepherding 34-35 - lion and bear take a lamb David caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him 37 - The Lord that delivered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90134,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/david-old-and-full-of-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":79115,"position":1},"title":"David, \u201cOld and Full of Years\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Tol Burk We are introduced to David as a young man, too young to fight Goliath (according to man's standards). But it doesn't end there-David is one of the very few that we see from youth to old age. Age changed things in his life, but his faith in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33427,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-put-my-trust-in-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":79115,"position":2},"title":"I Have Put My Trust in God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 56 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is far too easy to read the stories in the Bible and not think about the feelings of the people involved. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Joshua was chosen to follow Moses as leader of Israel, but he must have been very nervous - Joshua 1:2,9 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/five-stones-in-the-hands-of-a-boy\/","url_meta":{"origin":79115,"position":3},"title":"Five Stones in the Hands of a Boy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: I Corinthians 1:26-29 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The armies of the Philistines and the Israelites faced each other across a valley - I Samuel 17:1-3 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With both armies camped on mountains, it became a standoff. Whoever attacked the other would be at a disadvantage. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thus, the Philistines sent out their champion issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55622,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-consequence-of-sin-can-outlive-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":79115,"position":4},"title":"The Consequence of Sin Can Outlive Us","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton The apostle Paul declared in Galatians 6:7, \"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.\" There has always been consequences to sin from the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden (Genesis 2,3). A man\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/portraits-of-gods-leaders\/","url_meta":{"origin":79115,"position":5},"title":"Portraits of God’s Leaders","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A series of lessons presented by Ross Ward of Des Moines, Iowa, April 4-9, 2021 King Saul - An 'I' Problem Saul relies on his own will and ability, ultimately refused to accept responsibility for his actions (I Samuel 8-16) Jesus - Humble Servant King Jesus is King but not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79115\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}