OWC 2026 Devotional | Week 4, Day 5

GOD, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ME?

David is known as one of the great pursuers of God’s heart. He passionately pursued God almost his entire life… and he paid dearly for the season that he didn’t. David pursued the Lord with such great devotion in several seasons of his life. He pursued the Lord even when He was in an extended waiting season. He pursued the Lord when he was being attacked by people he cared deeply for. He pursued the Lord when he was leading the nation of Israel in battle after battle.  

Read 2 Samuel 12:1-25 

David had always shown such passion and zeal for the ways of the Lord. He had demonstrated great righteousness in his life, and he had been rewarded with great responsibility. He was now king of Israel, and it was time to go to battle for his nation. However, David didn’t go to battle. Instead of being where he needed to be to stay aligned with his purpose, he chose to be where he wanted to be, preferring his comfort. Maybe his body was tired, or his soul was weary. Whatever led him to this place of comfort over purpose also led him to lust after a married woman, demanding his desires be met, and killing her innocent husband in a disastrous attempt to hide his sin. David knew the benefits of passionately pursuing God’s Heart… now he would know the calamity of ignoring God’s Voice and God’s Ways.  

The Lord sends Nathan to confront David about his choices because God loves us enough to pursue us even when we part from Him. David’s departure from God’s purposes had caused great pain for others, and now for him. When other people’s choices cause such great pain and destruction in our lives, we often, and usually rightfully so, put up boundaries and separate ourselves from that person. Because this is how we respond to being betrayed, we assume this is how God responds to being betrayed. We believe that when we have betrayed or disappointed God, He chooses to distance Himself from us, take a break from us, and set up boundaries on how close we can get to Him and how close He will get to us. 

But God does not set up boundaries and protect Himself. He gets closer to us so He can, for our benefit, correct us, convict us, console us, comfort us, and call us back up to His perfect ways.  

David made terrible choices and didn’t seem to have any remorse until Nathan came to him. When Nathan pointed out his sin and the destruction it had caused, David immediately repented. Then he pleaded with the Lord for the consequences to be removed. Even when the consequences still came about, David accepted the consequence, but more importantly, he accepted God’s forgiveness. God’s pursuit of us, even in our sin, is not so that we can live in regret and shame, but so that we can live a life of freedom and purpose. The enemy will always lie to us hoping we will believe that our sin keeps us permanently distanced from God. The truth is God is greater than our sin, and if we respond to His pursuit, even and especially in our sin, we’ll find our repentance and acceptance of His forgiveness will bring us even closer to Him.  

• What have you believed about God’s Pursuit of you in your sin?  

• What is God revealing to you about His Pursuit of you in your sin?