Contemplative Bible Reading

2 Samuel 12:10 (New Living Translation)

From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

The prophet Nathan is delivering a message from God to King David. David’s despicable act with Uriah and Bathsheba was over. Now comes the punishment.

God punished David. That was only the start. God punished David’s descendants for generations. War plagued David’s reign as king.

Solomon came next, and even though he had a 40-year reign of peace, he path to kingship was marred by a bloody sword inside his family. As soon as Solomon died, his heir to the throne began wars that went on until the kingdom ended in exile in Babylon hundreds of years of bloody swords later.

And this was all recorded in the history of the people. Great-great-great…grandsons could read of David and understand why their lives were miserable. Did they curse David? Did they realize they had a choice in altering but not erasing history?

Do I understand that each day I can change my (hi)story? Please God, help me in my unbelief.