Personal Accountability
"And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because of this deed thou hast given great occassion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child that is born unto thee shall surely die." (II Samuel 12: 13-14) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten...(Revelation 3: 19)
This morning I woke up in time to hear one national media outlet’s continuing report on the present Governor of South Carolina. According to their report, this particular head of state has no intentions of resigning his office because he sees his moral failure in the same light as David’s sins with Bathsheba when he was king of Israel. The news report went on to use the word, “temptress” in its description of Bathsheba inferring that had she not done what she did, David would not have done what he did. The act of putting the majority of the blame on others for one’s wrongs is an attempt to lessen personal accountability. It is an action pursued for the purpose of taking all the negative concentration for wrongdoing off of the first party and placing it solely on the shoulders of the second party to the wrong.
I want to address governor’s understanding of David’s situation as compared to his situation this month. My ultimate goal in doing so is to point out to my readers first of all, that everyone should be held accountable for the wrongs they commit. I believe this is particularly true for anyone who is in a leadership position. Whether they are King, President, Governor or Mayor or, in my case, police chief and pastor, all are accountable for their own actions. When the prominent citizens of the City pointed to my failure to lead the police department the way they believed I should have, I could not excuse that failure by blaming anyone but myself. Most assuredly, I could not place blame on those who opposed me and dedicated themselves to seeing me removed by urged retirement from the position. I alone was responsible for my own lack of action. In the governor’s situation, close scrutiny is being placed on the Argentine woman’s role in the sinful tryst.
Did she really take this man away from his wife and children? Was she a temptress and was it really her fault alone that he yielded to temptation’s snare? Can we actually justify the governor’s action as an action that he had no control over? No where will you find King David attributing any part of his sins to Bathsheba. Neither do I believe that he would have allowed anyone else in Israel to place any blame on Bathsheba as justification for his actions. To call Bathsheba a temptress is to put her in the same light as Delilah who purposely used her body to tempt Sampson into revealing his strength. It was not an intentional act on Bathsheba’s part to tempt David to do anything. According to the Bible, she was bathing in the place designed for bathing at the time and engaging in a normal routine at the usual time. She is where she was supposed to be. David is strolling around his palace rooftop rather than being where he should have been or could have been. David should have been with his army, leading them into battle. David could have been with his wife and any of his legal concubines. When you are not where you are supposed to be, you cannot blame someone else for being where they are supposed to be. You cannot blame someone in Argentina for you not being in South Carolina.
David acknowledged that his sin was against God even though the results of his sin hurt human beings. Even though he remained in his position as king, and, because he confessed his sin, God cleaned his heart and renewed his righteousness, a divine chastisement was placed on his earthly life and reign by God himself. As painful as it was in his remaining years, David embraced the discipline of the Lord. Don’t despise or fight against the Lord’s chastisement because he will discipline those that are his.
This morning I woke up in time to hear one national media outlet’s continuing report on the present Governor of South Carolina. According to their report, this particular head of state has no intentions of resigning his office because he sees his moral failure in the same light as David’s sins with Bathsheba when he was king of Israel. The news report went on to use the word, “temptress” in its description of Bathsheba inferring that had she not done what she did, David would not have done what he did. The act of putting the majority of the blame on others for one’s wrongs is an attempt to lessen personal accountability. It is an action pursued for the purpose of taking all the negative concentration for wrongdoing off of the first party and placing it solely on the shoulders of the second party to the wrong.
I want to address governor’s understanding of David’s situation as compared to his situation this month. My ultimate goal in doing so is to point out to my readers first of all, that everyone should be held accountable for the wrongs they commit. I believe this is particularly true for anyone who is in a leadership position. Whether they are King, President, Governor or Mayor or, in my case, police chief and pastor, all are accountable for their own actions. When the prominent citizens of the City pointed to my failure to lead the police department the way they believed I should have, I could not excuse that failure by blaming anyone but myself. Most assuredly, I could not place blame on those who opposed me and dedicated themselves to seeing me removed by urged retirement from the position. I alone was responsible for my own lack of action. In the governor’s situation, close scrutiny is being placed on the Argentine woman’s role in the sinful tryst.
Did she really take this man away from his wife and children? Was she a temptress and was it really her fault alone that he yielded to temptation’s snare? Can we actually justify the governor’s action as an action that he had no control over? No where will you find King David attributing any part of his sins to Bathsheba. Neither do I believe that he would have allowed anyone else in Israel to place any blame on Bathsheba as justification for his actions. To call Bathsheba a temptress is to put her in the same light as Delilah who purposely used her body to tempt Sampson into revealing his strength. It was not an intentional act on Bathsheba’s part to tempt David to do anything. According to the Bible, she was bathing in the place designed for bathing at the time and engaging in a normal routine at the usual time. She is where she was supposed to be. David is strolling around his palace rooftop rather than being where he should have been or could have been. David should have been with his army, leading them into battle. David could have been with his wife and any of his legal concubines. When you are not where you are supposed to be, you cannot blame someone else for being where they are supposed to be. You cannot blame someone in Argentina for you not being in South Carolina.
David acknowledged that his sin was against God even though the results of his sin hurt human beings. Even though he remained in his position as king, and, because he confessed his sin, God cleaned his heart and renewed his righteousness, a divine chastisement was placed on his earthly life and reign by God himself. As painful as it was in his remaining years, David embraced the discipline of the Lord. Don’t despise or fight against the Lord’s chastisement because he will discipline those that are his.
Comment
© 2024 Created by Raliegh Jones Jr..
Powered by
You need to be a member of Black Preaching Network to add comments!
Join Black Preaching Network