Why dabble in adultery?
Adultery is often a drug to cover anger or
emptiness, to escape the challenges of home
life—pleasure without the accompanying worries, and sexual fulfilment, like alcohol, usually provides some relief and pleasure.
But Proverbs (5:3–4) suggests what is sweet to the taste can become sour in the stomach. Nathan predicted David’s moments of pleasure would lead to a lifetime of distress, for himself
and his family (2 Samuel
12:9–10).
It may not be
possible to follow a lifetime of
the causes and effects of adultery. But it’s easy to forecast hostility resulting from infidelity: anger, loss of trust, and the pain of
betrayal.
Further, a variety of
attitudes by an adulterous husband—or wife in today’s free and equal culture—from outright
denial or excuses to utter remorse and self-reproach can only add to the
conflict, and the affair might still drag on after discovery.
Even if it doesn’t,
a wife’s loss can trigger a prolonged period of mourning countered by the
impatience of the husband. Without reconciliation, the marriage may break up, or continue an uneasy co-existence, the wife using guilt to hold the husband hostage.
Infidelity creates
a near death experience for a marriage, yet many marriages survive and become meaningful for both partners again. Most of David’s
life is a remarkable record of his source of survival; he never lost his
confidence in God in the midst
of adversity
David’s psalms are
the legacy of his victories for us in times of difficulty. David found pardon in the grace of God’s forgiveness and protection, although still facing the consequences of his sin. David’s example
can bring both comfort and strength to continue through adversity.
David’s brief fling resulted in a lifetime of
family conflict. Too often, the continuing depth of pain and misery of a broken
marriage causes us to retreat from God. But as David found, God is our ultimate
source of strength when we need Him the most.
