Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.” (NIV)

If you’ve never heard the full story from which the above scene is taken, I’ll give you the cliff notes: King David of Israel lusted after the wife of one his loyal soldiers. They conceived a child and David devised a plan that resulted in the death of his soldier. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David.  

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David walked a painful road after his sin, and he left a good example for how we can walk in forgiveness even when consequences remain. After all, God took away David’s sin. If I were David, I would think that meant I was in the clear. Then Nathan reveals that the child he conceived from the affair would die.

Clearly, God forgives and simultaneously allows for consequences. Being forgiven for our sins and escaping from the outcomes are not the same thing. God created an orderly world with clear cause and effect, that we might be drawn closer to him. I don’t know about you, but early in my walk with God, it was often the consequences of my actions, instead of simply knowing that I had sinned, that made me remorseful and willing to repent.  

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Consequences are part of human existence. How we handle them while continuing in our walk with Christ is very important for our spiritual maturity, though. How do we do that?  

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First, we must know that God’s grace covers us. Though we are stuck with the outcomes, we can rest assured that God won’t walk away from us. That’s good news, because all sin in the end is committed against God.  

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Second, resist blaming others for your actions. It can be tempting to justify myself or make myself out to be a victim when the results of sin arrive. I must remind myself not to share my guilt with others. For all his faults, David does this beautifully. He could have said, “I was seduced by a woman who took a bath in full view of my roof! Cut me a little slack.” But he didn’t. He fully owned his actions, how what he did impacted others, and how his actions impacted his relationship with God. We would do good to follow his example.  

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Third, as painful as the consequences are, we are never forced to earn our way back into God’s grace. God makes it very clear that his grace is not earned. For me personally, I find that it’s useful to separate God’s grace and my place in God’s family from the pain that I'm experiencing. I ask for his mercy and deal with the outcomes of my actions. Those are two separate things.  

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Last, keep your eyes on the big picture. The goal is not to live a good life on Earth free of consequences. We were designed to spend eternity with God in Heaven. As heartbreaking as working through outcomes is, we can rest assured that our future with God is not jeopardized when we accept God’s grace for our lives. Despite David’s sins and the terrible consequences he endured, he is known in Scripture as “a man after God’s own heart.” May the same be said of us.

Father, we come to you as sinners undeserving of grace, and yet you freely give it to us. As we deal with consequences of sin, I pray that we lean more into your grace. Use our hardest moments to draw us closer to you. Amen.