David was a great man of God. The Bible says that he was a man after God's own heart. It was God Himself who said that about David. It wasn't another man or woman or even David himself. It was God. Well, it is hard to argue. David was a brave shepherd, valiant warrior, and skillful musician. He defeated Goliath when the rest of the Israelite army was too afraid. He scattered demons through the anointing of his music. And men wanted to follow Him. After he became king, he ended a civil war and brought the nation together. What a great man! At least, up until....

One day when David should have gone out with his army for battle. He stayed at the palace and noticed a woman bathing on top of her roof. Her name was Bathsheba and she was beautiful. David, after finding out that she was already married, sent for her. He slept with her and she became pregnant. To hide the pregnancy, he brought home her husband from war thinking he would go home to sleep with his wife. But out of loyalty to David and his own men at war, he refused his beautiful wife. David even tried to get him drunk, but neither did this work. Having exhausted all other avenues, he had Bathsheba's husband sent to the front lines where he would surely be killed. David then took Bathsheba to be his wife. Yep, he was a great man of God alright.

In spite of this, God still blessed him and used him. He kept David on the throne and years later when Jesus Christ would ride into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey, the people knelt before Him, waved palm branches, and shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David." God established the throne of David forever in spite of all of the evil David did.
My point of this series is to remind us that we don't have to be perfect to be great. There is so much pressure from all of the responsibility we carry from work, from marriage, from parenting, from friendships, from church. All of these carry expectations and many times, people have no tolerance for our mistakes and much less for our sins. This kind of pressure has produced a country that is extremely medicated trying to help us all deal with our stress and anxiety. Some gave up trying to be perfect, satisfying everyone's expectations, and became rebellious. They figured that if they can't be perfect, why try and why not be the best you can be at being bad.

But Praise the Lord, God's ways are higher than ours. He does not expect us to be perfect. He expects us to work at being perfect by living under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit, but for those who believe in Christ, there is no condemnation when we are not perfect. Yes, there are consequences, but not condemnation. But this does not mean that anyone who fails and sins will be lifted above their sins and failures as David was.

Let's consider the King before David. Saul had a battle coming up and he knew that he needed the blessing of God before he went into the battle. So the prophet Samuel was supposed to meet him at a certain time in order to offer the appropriate sacrifices. Well, like many preachers (me included), Samuel was running late. So Saul offered the sacrifices himself. Yes, he was craving some attention for himself. But all he did was not wait for Samuel and offer sacrifices to the Lord when Samuel was the one who was supposed to do that. At that moment, God declared to Saul through Samuel, that Saul would be removed from his throne and it would not pass down to his children.

Compare that to David. David committed adultery and murder after being lazy and then tried to manipulate. But God established David's throne forever. Saul was dethroned. David became the chosen bloodline for the Messiah. What was the difference? The difference was what was in David's heart. God delighted in David even though David was so imperfect and failed so horribly.

10His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; 11the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Psalms 147:10-11 (NIV)

A huge difference between David and Saul was not that David behaved better as we have already discussed. The difference was that David was passionate about God. This passage in the 147th Psalm speaks volumes. David delighted the Lord by his heart and because of this David found great success and Saul was removed and died without an heir on the throne.

This is good news for anyone reading this who is not perfect. Your success, given by God, is not determined by your abilities, talents, or past performances. Your success is determined by your heart and whether or not God delights in you. Too many of us are imprisoned by our past sins, failures, and mistakes. You can't change your past, but you can change your heart causing God to change your future.

Psalm 147 says that God delights in those who fear Him. But this word fear is not limited to obedience. It is a word that matures to reverence and honor. When you fail as David failed, how do you react? Does your desire to honor God create great sorrow in your heart because of your sins? Or do you just chalk it up to another moment of imperfection and then move forward. All sin is an affront to God. All sin is personal to God. Sin is a rejection of the Holy Spirit God gives us to help us to resist sin. If we choose to see sin as if we just broke a rule, God will not lift us above our past failures. But if we choose to sin as a slap on the face of God and repent out of a sorrow for dishonoring the one who has honored us so even to the point of death, God will lift us up above our past, above our failures, above our sins. This is good news. You don't have to be perfect!

Psalm 147 also says that God delights in those who put their hope in His unfailing love. Hope is an expectation. More specifically, it is a positive expectation. The fact that nothing is impossible for God combined with the fact that He loves you just as you are, even though you are not perfect should produce in us a positive outlook in life. It is the belief that God's love is greater than our sins and failures of the past, present, and future. It is the belief that even though we are not perfect and will receive consequences from God, He never stops loving us. He never stops working for the very best for us. He never gives up on us. Though at times, I may make Him angry, He disciplines me and continues to bless me. Even in the most difficult situations, God is working for my blessing and benefit.

Should we not consider this unfailing love and live to please Him all the more? In light of this unfailing love, let us live by the Spirit, love God with all of our heart, and work to honor Him with our love and devotion.
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