{"id":3801,"date":"2014-06-03T06:00:23","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T13:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devonline.us\/dailyevotional\/?p=3801"},"modified":"2014-06-03T12:40:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-03T19:40:52","slug":"consequences-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/consequences-5\/","title":{"rendered":"CONSEQUENCES!"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Samuel 12:4-7a<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Now a traveler 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.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.\u2019 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, \u2018As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.\u2019 Then Nathan said to David, \u2018You are the man!\u2019\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Back in the 1970\u2019s I was working for the State of Idaho and also teaching a Bible class at the Idaho State Penitentiary.\u00a0\u00a0One of the men had been convicted of murder and was serving a life sentence. During one of our Bible study classes, he shared with the group the story of what had happened. His unlawful act was accomplished in the heat of emotion. The consequences of an evening that began in a festive atmosphere ended with him behind bars for life.<\/p>\n

The result of our actions will always result in consequences.\u00a0\u00a0The result of doing things God\u2019s was will result in honor and blessing.\u00a0Refusal to obey God and His commands will carry shame and dire consequences.<\/p>\n

David was God\u2019s selection to be the mighty King of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0David had served the Lord faithfully for many years and God had showered him with honor and blessings. As the King he was to lead his troops into battle. However in II Samuel 11:1, we find that when the kings go off to war, David didn\u2019t! KINGS are supposed to lead—THEY DO NOT SEND!<\/p>\n

You no doubt recall the sad story of David\u2019s sin.\u00a0\u00a0He STAYED\u2014He STARED\u2014He STOLE\u2014He SLEW!\u00a0\u00a0He was guilty of not going into battle with his men; BUT of committing adultery and of killing Bathsheba\u2019s faithful husband.<\/p>\n

David\u2019s conscience may have bothered him, but it is possible that he may have thought he had escaped the consequences. But God knew! Not only did God know, but God sent a prophet named Nathan to confront David about his sin.<\/p>\n

As we read today\u2019s Scripture, David is enraged by a wealthy and powerful neighbor who would steal his poor neighbor\u2019s one ewe lamb.\u00a0\u00a0He fumed out his vengeance on such a vile man but was stopped in his tracks by Nathan\u2019s words of judgment:\u00a0\u201cYou are the man!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

David repented of his sin, but there were serious consequences.\u00a0\u00a0Like my friend at the Penitentiary, a consequence was required. In David\u2019s case it was the death of his baby and chaos between his sons.<\/p>\n

Repentance also had its consequences. My friend became a born again Christian and led many other inmates to Jesus. David felt the touch of the Lord and wrote many Psalms with a broken heart. He became known as a man after God\u2019s own heart. Where are you right now? I urge you to repent and reap the consequences of God\u2019s love and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!<\/p>\n

– – – Pastor Cecil<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 Samuel 12:4-7a \u2018Now a traveler 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.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2-samuel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyevotional.com\/prior2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}