In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Psalm 18:6

David is known as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 22:13), because he loved God and wanted to do his will. He allowed God’s way to be higher than his own way. Just as Jesus prayed in the garden years later, ‘not my will but thine’ (Luke 22:42); David knew the best approach would be to live out God’s plan God’s way.

David was not without fault. He sinned and tried to cover that sin with more sin. He took Bathsheba and when she got pregnant he had her husband killed. Wow- he was after God’s heart? Obviously it wasn’t the sin in his life that made God say this. It was what he did when the sin was revealed. When he broke through the denial of his sin, he repented and lamented and cried out to God for forgiveness and he heard his cries for help. The acronym for d.e.n.i.a.l is don’t even notice I am lying. I believe David believed he was getting away with something until Nathan confronted him with his behavior (2 Samuel 12). When he confessed his sin and repented, David was given peace, even in his distress at the loss of their child.

I have gone my own way many times. It has led me to hit my knees and cry out to God in my distress. Gratefully, he hears my prayer and sends a rescue plan. But, it has not gone without consequences for me and my family. My own way led to years of running from the only one who could truly satisfy my soul. I did not raise my children in a Godly home and I showed them maladaptive coping skills to cover my sin and shame. I have seen and experienced the grace of God and I know that his way is the only way for me to have peace.

I pray that for all the years my children saw my sin and denial that they can see what following God now can do for them. They are ‘working out’ their salvation for themselves, which is all any of us can do; and I pray their children will see the benefits of a heart totally surrendered to God.