The Consequences of Our Sins
When we trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven, all of them past, present, and future. However, after we are saved, we still sin at times, so we must confess our sins and repent of them, so our relationship with God will be as close as it ought to be. (I John 1:9) Then, those sins are cleansed, and we are forgiven, but that doesn't mean that God takes away all consequences for our sins. He leaves consequences many times so we will stay close to God and not commit those sins again.
That is what happened after David's serious sins of adultery and murder. God told him he would have family problems the rest of his life, and he did. One problem was his son, Absalom, who killed his half-brother for raping his siter, and then he rebelled against his father. (II Samuel 15:13) A messenger came to Jerusalem to tell David, "All Israel has joined Absalom in a conspiracy against you." God was with David through these trials, but he still had to endure the consequences of his sins. This should teach us a valuable lesson.
We must all realize that our sins do not just affect us, but they affect our family and others around us. David's sin even ended up bringing a crisis on the whole country of Israel. I know our sins may not have that effect, but they do hurt the ones we love, and the effects can last for years and years. that is why we need to be very slow to act and quick to listen to the Holy Spirit, so that we do not allow ourselves to fall into any sin, but especially the sins with the more serious consequences, like sexual immorality and adultery.
All of this should help to give us an understanding of the fear of God. That is why the Bible says that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Once we have the true fear of the Lord and what He can and will do to us if we sin, it will show us the right way to think and the right way handle the temptations that come into our lives. This is why the Bible says to flee fornication and other sins. We should get as far away as we can from anything that would lead us to sin, so we do not end up having to deal with sin's consequences.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read II Samuel 16-18.