DEALING WITH GUILT

Read 2 Sam. 11: 1 – 12:24

David was an adulterer who had a man killed because he wanted to marry his wife. This action brought God’s judgment upon him and he was told by Prophet Nathan that the product of that sinful union would die. He fasted and prayed for forgiveness so that the child could be spared. His servants and aides became worried because of his refusal to eat. 

At the end, the child died. When the news was broken to him, David washed and anointed himself and asked to be given food which he ate. He did not stop at that: the Scriptures say in 2 Sam. 12:24 “And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him”. This Solomon grew up to be the wisest and wealthiest man to have ever lived. Christ was a descendant of Solomon - a product of adultery.

David was far from being perfect. Yet, he enjoyed a wonderful relationship with his Maker. God loved him so much that He promised to establish his dynasty for ever. How could God love and use this man that was full of faults? The answer is because he had a repentant heart. We could see the condition of his heart in Psalm 57 which he wrote after his sin with Bathsheba. He even went further to make a vow that he would never set his eyes upon anything sinful (Ps. 101:3).

Guilt is a subject that many young Christians are yet to have a grip on. They feel that the sins and mistakes they have made before encountering Christ can never be corrected. This is very untrue. The moment a person has genuinely confessed his sins and asked for forgiveness, God has forgotten about that sin and blotted it away from His record (Heb. 8:12).

After that, the individual ought to be filled with peace from within. If he is still feeling guilty after genuinely repenting, then he ought to know that such feeling is not from God but the devil who must be rebuked according to the word “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony... (Rev 12:11).

God does not want us to continue living with guilt because it will limit and make us cower where we ought to exercise boldness. It will deny us the opportunity of being used mightily by God. As David was able to forgive himself knowing that God had forgiven him, we also must not sit down brooding over our past mistakes. Rather, we should commit them to God who knows how to turn around our shortcomings to promotion.