David, Part 11: Last Words | Bible Stories Retold

took another man's wife, the father who stayed silent, the father who wept at the gate. How does a life like that end? After Absalom, David came home to Jerusalem. Shime, the man who had thrown stones and cursed him, came running and fell at his feet, begging. David's soldiers wanted him dead. David said, "You will not die." And Mephibosheth came out to meet him. He hadn't washed his clothes or cared for his feet since the day the king left. All he said was, "My Lord, the king has come home in peace." Late in his life, David ordered a count of every fighting man in Israel. His general Joab tried to stop him, but David insisted. Maybe he wanted to know how strong he was. When the count was done, David's heart struck him. "I have sinned greatly in what I have done." "Lord, take away the guilt of your servant, for I have done very foolish." The prophet Gad brought David a hard choice of judgment. David said, "Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great. Don't let me fall into the hand of man." A plague swept through the land. And David cried out, "I am the one who sinned. These are just sheep. What have they done? Let your hand be against me." God told David to build an altar on the threshing floor of a man named Arounna. Arounna offered to give it to the king for free. David said, "No, I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer to the Lord, my God, what costs me nothing." That piece of ground would later become the place where Solomon built the temple. David grew very old. One of his sons tried to grab the throne before David was even gone. So Bathsheba and Nathan the prophet came to the king. The same Nathan who once said, "You are the man." And David kept his promise. Solomon, Bathsheba's son, would be king. David called Solomon to his side, "I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God and walk in his ways." These were David's last words. The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me. One who rules over people righteously in the fear of God is like the morning light when the sun rises, the morning without clouds. My house has not been what it should be with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant. Long before the shepherd boy had written a song, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall lack nothing." Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me. Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life. David reigned 40 years. Then he died and was buried in the city of David. Centuries later, the Bible would sum up his life in one line. David served God's purpose

in his own generation, and then he fell asleep. A thousand years later, in Bethlehem, David's hometown, a child was born from David's family love. Like David, he would be a shepherd and a king. People would cry out to him, "Son of David, have mercy on his name, was Jesus." David's life wasn't clean. The giant and the cave. The grace and the cover-up. The silence and the tears. God never pretended otherwise, and he never wrote David off. David was called a man after God's own heart. Not because he never failed, but because every time he came back. He told the truth. He poured out his heart. Your story isn't finished, either. The Lord is your shepherd, and goodness and mercy are still following you.