Gray Sands
Associate Minister
Patrick Springs Christian Church
I recently read an article about a Christian musician who renounced his faith after 20 years. He gave a multitude of reasons of which most had to do with other people’s actions. He cited the Crusades, the inquisition, witch hunts, financial corruption and several other things that he nor we have any control over.
I’m not sure why it took him 20 years to come to this conclusion about his faith. Many of the things that he cites took place long ago. Blaming others for a lack of faith or rejection of Christ may work with people, in fact he may even be praised for it, but it won’t work with God.
The scripture says that King David was a man after God’s own heart. (1 Sa 13:14) David desired to have a relationship with his creator and to please Him by the way that he conducted his life.
David’s life was full of turmoil, twists and turns of every nature but he never lost his faith. When the nation of Israel was at war with the Philistines and no one in Israel had the courage to fight against Goliath, the champion soldier of the Philistine army. David did and won.
As a result of this and other victories against the enemies of Israel, David became popular among the people, but the first King of Israel, Saul was jealous. Saul tried to kill David so David fled from the land of Israel and was known as an outlaw to his own people until the death of Saul.
David was on the run for many years but he never lost his faith. When David became King, one of his own sons, Absalom, lead a rebellion against him resulting in his son’s death, but David never lost his faith.
Perhaps the most renowned story in David’s life was the story of David and Bathsheba. David seduced Bathsheba into his bed while her husband Uriah was off fighting in a war for David and Israel. Then David tried to trick Uriah into going home to his wife so if there was a pregnancy, Uriah would think that the child was his but Uriah was totally focused on the war effort and would not go home.
David then told the commander of the army to put Uriah on the front line and withdraw from him so he would be killed by the enemy. Uriah died and David thought that his problem was taken care of only to be exposed by Nathan the Prophet.
Nathan told David that God knew what he had done, as if we can hide anything from God, and as a result, the child that Bathsheba had borne to David would die. David fasted, wept and prayed for six days but on the seventh day the child died. David put this behind him, repented and said, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23) David never lost his faith.
King David was far from perfect. There were all kinds of calamities in his life but he didn’t let anything get in the way of him having a relationship with God.
If we want to have a relationship with God our attitude should be the same. Stop blaming other people. Stop blaming bad experiences in life and take responsibility for your own individual relationship with God.
God is constantly calling us into a relationship with him through many different means but especially through the scripture that teaches us about his love for us. Only you and I can desire, respond to and build a relationship with God. If you don’t have one, it’s no one’s fault but your own.
