THE LOVE OF GOD

David listened to God’s word from the prophet Nathan and he repented and obeyed. As a result, he spent the rest of his life growing in his knowledge of God. The Lord brought great peace into David’s life, and eventually all his enemies were silenced.

Yet the clearest evidence of God’s restoration in David’s life is his own testimony. Read what David wrote in his dying days:

• “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer . . . in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour” (2 Samuel 22:2–3). This is not the testimony of someone who has faded away.
• “[My God] did hear my voice. . . . He took me; he drew me out of many waters. . . . He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me” (2 Samuel 22:7, 17, 20). Even after all that David did to displease the Lord, he was able to say, “The Lord delights in me.”

The reason that David will forever be known as “a man after God’s own heart” is because he quickly and genuinely repented of his sins. Proverbs tells us:

• “He that regardeth reproof shall be honoured” (Proverbs 13:18). God will honor you if you love and obey godly reproof.
• “They despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way. . . . For the turning away of the simple shall slay them” (Proverbs 1:30–32). If you turn a deaf ear to godly reproof, it will end up destroying you.
• “Reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:23). Simply put, the convicting Word of God brings life.

If you are being probed by God’s Word—if His Spirit isn’t letting you sit comfortably in your sin—then you are being shown mercy. It is the deep love of God at work, wooing you out of death and into life.

Will you respond to Him as David did? If so, you’ll know true restoration and reconciliation. And God will restore everything the enemy has stolen.