When God is angry with a believer (2)

David had killed a man and had taken possession of his wife, as we saw in Part one of the series. In fact, it was not just another man’s wife, but the wife of one of his loyal soldiers, fighting in the war front to save his head and crown. Some people might have known it and the much they could do was to gossip about it. Some people might not even know, why Bathsheba, David’s amorous companion, joined the King’s harem but God knew everything and He did not keep quiet.
This is why we miss God most of the time. We live in comfort after committing sin, knowing that we are judged only by what people know about us. We assess ourselves by what we think people know about us. This is why we spend time and effort to cover the evil things we do. God knows any wrong thing we did, how we did it, why we did it and why we did not do the other things we had intended to do.
In His act of love, as it is normal with Him, God sent one of His ministers, Rev. Nathan, to confront King David. He does the same to us. It can be through His Word, we read or study. It can be through the messages we hear from the pulpit. In those days, when God made me to know that a youth, attending Fellowship in my house, was sleeping with a sister in our fellowship, I confronted him. He accepted his evil deed and stopped it. I confronted my sister but she denied it. Through me, God had spoken to the two people, but while the boy accepted His Word and repented of his sin, my dear sister did not. There was nothing more God will do when we reject His Word. He was not happy with our sister.
Uncle Nathan used a parable in rehearsing before King David, his evil deeds to Uriah, his loyal soldier. Not realizing how it applied to him, David was quick in condemning the fellow, saying that he deserved death. “Oga, you are the man,” Rev. Nathan told him. Frank and boldness! This is how God expects us to be ministering to His people, calling a spade by its name. The impact on the king was great. “I have sinned against God,” he declared. Thank God for that confession. The implication of his conduct was grave really. It brought God to ridicule before ungodly people. In adultery, the person sins, not only against God but also against the evil partner, her spouse, his own spouse, the woman’s children, his own children, family members, et cetera.
It is a sin against the Church of God and the entire Body of Christ worldwide. For me, it will be a sin also against the Scripture Union [SU], Nigeria Fellowship of Evangelical Students [NIFES], Fellowship of Christian Students [FCS], and all the various Churches in Nigeria and in the US that invite me to minister to them. It will be a sin also for all the people I have led to Christ and all those who call me ‘Daddy’, not the Lagos ‘Daddy’, but the one from the heart
I love how King David accepted his sin openly. Hear him again, “I have sinned against God”. If some Military Leaders, like David, are confronted in this manner, will they bother even to defend themselves? They may execute Rev. Nathan for his brass boldness and insult. Not King David! “I have sinned against God,” he confessed and He forgave him, accepting his plea. May it be clear to us that we do not sin because we know that God will forgive us if we plead for mercy. We do not avoid sin also, so that He will not punish us. We avoid sin in demonstration that we love Him.
Imagine what would have been the fate of King David if God did not send Rev. Nathan to him! Would he not be living his normal life not knowing that God was angry with him? It is possible that some people have swept under the rug, the evil things they did. It is a terrible situation for someone to be ignorant of God’s anger on him. This is what sin causes. The person lives in his past glory. One day, Prof. Francis Onofeghara, now late, and I were going for a programme and he said something about the Guest Speaker I did not like. “I hope he will not preach his old message,” he said. It was later that I heard that the Guest Speaker, who I had enjoyed sitting under his ministrations at Enugu, had backslidden, caused by sexual indulgence. He started preaching his old messages.
The problem of some people is that God may send them to confront someone, who has sinned and they will not go. Their fear is that the person may be angry with them. The accused, unlike David, may not own up his fault and may sue them for accusing them. It is important to be sure that it is God, Who is sending us. We must handle the assignment prayerfully. May we be willing also to be accepting our sins.
I have to stress here that God forgave David but told him that he must pay for it. The child born in that sinful relationship must die. If he lived, it would make David to gain in a contingency. He pleaded with God to spare the life of the child but God insisted that he must die. And he did! The Lord Jesus offered Himself for sacrifice for our sin. When the pains were beyond measure, He shouted, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” God being God, that cry did not change anything until our Lord Jesus gave up the ghost.
David had a unique personality of accepting the will of God all the time. It was demonstrated beautifully here. His servants, who knew how he had been fasting and praying so that God might deliver his son from death, could not muster courage to inform him when the child died. They had imagined the worst. Hearing their whisperings, he suspected that the child was dead and confronted them. They owned up. They knew what would follow but what he did was contrary to their imagination. He bathed, ate and dressed well. This is accepting the will of God and it defines the real child of God.
Considering the consequences that take place when God is angry with a believer, the best option is for the believer to avoid sin. I thank God that Satan cannot force anybody to sin. The much he does is to entice him, turning the Scriptures upside down to his favour, as he did to Adam. “Get behind me Satan,” if we can say that at the face of temptation, as Jesus did, Satan is bound to leave us. Uncle Joseph took to his heels, leaving behind his coat. Jail or no jail, Satan lost the battle.
What God reserved for Joseph was promotion that made him the Prime Minister of Egypt, where Potiphar, his master and his wife, served under him. During temptation, if we are patient and willing to abide by the Word of God, we will realize that the highest hill must end in a valley.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0909 041 9057; [email protected]