What happened when David sinned?

God punished David, but He forgave David.

In this week’s account from the Bible, preschoolers will hear about sin and its consequences. David sinned against God, but God, in His grace, restored David when he repented. 

It was spring and the king usually went out to war with his troops. This spring however, David stayed at home in the palace and sent the army out under the leadership of Joab. One night David was on the roof of the palace and saw Bathsheba bathing. He sent for her and the result was that she became pregnant. David now had a serious situation to deal with.

Instead of choosing honesty, David tried to get Bathsheba’s husband Uriah to come home from battle and be with his wife, but Uriah refused. In a desperate attempt to cover his sin, David ordered Joab to place Uriah in the hottest part of the battle and then leave him alone so Uriah would be killed. Joab followed David’s order and Uriah died during the battle. David married Bathsheba and she soon gave birth to a son. God considered David’s actions to be evil!

The prophet Nathan paid David a visit and told him a story about a man who had great riches and many animals. The rich man was visited by a traveler, but instead of offering one of his own lambs to feed the traveler, the rich man took the only lamb from a poor man and prepared that lamb for his guest. The story infuriated David and he demanded that the rich man be killed for this atrocity. Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” David took something that didn’t belong to him; David knew he deserved to die, but God relented and instead, David and Bathsheba’s baby died.