David and Solomon - 2 Kings - Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome!



Who is better than David?


David was about the best Israel had to offer, and he still fell like anyone can. There is a profound and humbling lesson here that there is only one really good Person, and the rest of us are trying our best to emulate Him, and even though many people do good everyday, no one is good enough to say that in other circumstances, they wouldn't have ended up like David. I don't mean that specifically to the Bathsheba situation, I mean it generally to the temptation situation. There are plenty of examples of men and women who were tempted by lust resisted, who had the choice to cover their sins but didn't, and who may have wished someone in their lives was dead but never took to arrange it so. So I'm not saying that David's condemnation was out of place, however tragic that may be. I'm saying that each of us has a breaking point. Each of us has our own weakness to which we could fall. So in that sense, who can say that they are better than David?
So what do you do about that?
Well the world's way is to say that since no one is perfect, no one should be judged.
That is kind of a dumb approach. It will inevitably magnify the suffering over time, even if it may feel like it assuages it today.
We are all still going to pay for every violation of the law of nature or nature's God that we commit. This is not something a being of physical matter can escape from. If you act in the world your causes will have effects that echo throughout your existence, and you may be the one to pay for it most, or maybe it will be your children, or your grandchildren. But pretending that consequences don't happen doesn't stop them from happening. David still lost the kingdom, Solomon still lost the kingdom, and David has spiritual prison to pay for the consequences of his actions.
So let's avoid that.
Instead of trying to ignore our own weaknesses, or condemning ourselves for our weaknesses (remember judgement is with God), We can acknowledge and accept that we do have weakness and that despite our best efforts, we need to be more than we are today if we want to overcome them. We can then turn to the Savior with a truly sincere heart and ask every day that we may not be led into temptation, but that He may deliver us from evil. Because despite all our best efforts, it is ultimately His grace and our ability to turn our entire lives to His grace that gives us power to deliver. "For Thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forevermore. amen."
I'd like to finish up with this quote from Nephi. 

O Lord, wilt thou aredeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of bsin?
May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my aheart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may bwalk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!



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