Falls Short On “Delivering The Goods”….

This is a classic example of how sin affects human beings. This response to sinful behavior is why God warns us. If we take it to it’s ultimate conclusion, unrepentant sin leads to our destruction. It severs relationships, and ultimates destroys us from the inside out. It keeps us from ever reaching our potential. It starts with an idea, the idea gives birth to planning an action, the action turns into reality, reality has an outcome, and the outcome opens the eyes of the implementer. When our eyes are opened we realize that what we thought this desire was going to do falls short on “delivering the goods”. This inevitably brings about guilt and shame. How we deal with this guilt and shame then determines another behavior. We either repent (which is rare), or we fight and try to surpress these feelings by escape, denial, or trying to convince ourselves we’ve done nothing wrong. Through it all, we hurt others with our behavior. Sin has a way of severing relationships, especially when it’s responded to with denial or justification. God never intended it to be this way. He is forgiving. He wants us to go to Him all the time. Yet sin has a way of making us run from Him. It’s just the way it is. It’s why He hates sin so much. God is the exact opposite of sin; He is Holy. If we could only understand this relationship between sin and God, how it severs our connection with Him. If God wants the best for us. If He wants a close connection with us. If His ways are designed for our best, then why do we cherish sin? Why to we want to run and dive right into it? Why do we continue to keep going back when we know it destroys us in the process? I think the reason we do it is because we do not have the ability to comprehend God’s great love for us. We get small glimpses of it when we repent and draw closer to God. Yet we have such short memories, we forget how that closeness makes us feel. I personally believe that if we could truly experience God’s love for us, fully realizing its magnitude, sin wouldn’t be an after-thought, it’s what Adam experienced in the Garden. But I don’t think it’s fully possible here on earth, while we live in our sinful, fleshly bodies. It’s purposed for us to have the choice to sin because true love always gives us a choice. And by choosing to sin or refraining from sinning, our response shows our understanding and gratitude to God for being the recipients of that choice. It reveals our love back to God. I’m not saying, sinning is something we need to do. I’m saying when we do it, it reveals the love of God to us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. And that God loved us before we could love Him. Amnon’s example here in 2 Samuel chapter 13 clearly points out one response to this dilemma. The typical denial or justification of our sinful behavior, not only hurts others, but it ultimately destroys us from the inside out. The temptation to sin will always seems far greater a reward than it ever will deliver. Seeing this is half the battle. Knowing it separates us from God is the real issue. We will never experience joy and peace without God, and sin will always keep us from ever experiencing it without the right response to it. Thanks be to God for knowing us better than we know ourselves, and loving us beyond our comprehension.

1 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. And Amnon, her half brother, fell desperately in love with her. 2 Amnon became so obsessed with Tamar that he became ill. She was a virgin, and Amnon thought he could never have her.3 But Amnon had a very crafty friend–his cousin Jonadab. He was the son of David’s brother Shimea. 4 One day Jonadab said to Amnon, “What’s the trouble? Why should the son of a king look so dejected morning after morning?”So Amnon told him, “I am in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.”5 “Well,” Jonadab said, “I’ll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you’ll feel better if she prepares it as you watch and feeds you with her own hands.”6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon asked him, “Please let my sister Tamar come and cook my favorite dish as I watch. Then I can eat it from her own hands.” 7 So David agreed and sent Tamar to Amnon’s house to prepare some food for him.8 When Tamar arrived at Amnon’s house, she went to the place where he was lying down so he could watch her mix some dough. Then she baked his favorite dish for him. 9 But when she set the serving tray before him, he refused to eat. “Everyone get out of here,” Amnon told his servants. So they all left.10 Then he said to Tamar, “Now bring the food into my bedroom and feed it to me here.” So Tamar took his favorite dish to him. 11 But as she was feeding him, he grabbed her and demanded, “Come to bed with me, my darling sister.”12 “No, my brother!” she cried. “Don’t be foolish! Don’t do this to me! Such wicked things aren’t done in Israel. 13 Where could I go in my shame? And you would be called one of the greatest fools in Israel. Please, just speak to the king about it, and he will let you marry me.”14 But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. 15 Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. “Get out of here!” he snarled at her.16 “No, no!” Tamar cried. “Sending me away now is worse than what you’ve already done to me.”But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her. 17 He shouted for his servant and demanded, “Throw this woman out, and lock the door behind her!”18 So the servant put her out and locked the door behind her. She was wearing a long, beautiful robe, as was the custom in those days for the king’s virgin daughters. 19 But now Tamar tore her robe and put ashes on her head. And then, with her face in her hands, she went away crying.20 Her brother Absalom saw her and asked, “Is it true that Amnon has been with you? Well, my sister, keep quiet for now, since he’s your brother. Don’t you worry about it.” So Tamar lived as a desolate woman in her brother Absalom’s house.21 When King David heard what had happened, he was very angry. 22 And though Absalom never spoke to Amnon about this, he hated Amnon deeply because of what he had done to his sister. 2 Samuel 13:1-22