STANDING TALL #5/9
REALITY HAPPENS
February 27, 2005

Text: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:14

For some rather obvious reasons, the military wants reliable people
involved in its nuclear weapons programs. When I served onboard ballistic
missile submarines, everyone involved in any procedure associated with
nuclear missiles had to be enrolled in the Personnel Reliability Program
- PRP, for short. The PRP was an administrative program used to help
further screen personnel on an ongoing basis to help assure our
reliability to continue our jobs. If something was identified in a
person’s life that might impact reliability, that person could be
temporarily removed from the PRP until the situation was investigated and
evaluated. For instance, if a person talked about, or was known to have,
significant family problems, the command might remove that person for
awhile. Or if the command received failure of payment notices, or other
financial irregularity, about a person, that person might be removed from
the PRP until it could all be evaluated.

Of course, well before being enrolled in the PRP, we were all subject to
background checks conducted by our nation’s security agencies. The extent
of the background check depended upon the level of access to classified
material that we would have or might have. The purpose of the checks,
again, was to try to ensure that personnel with access to classified
information and other sensitive material did not have anything obvious
lurking in their backgrounds that would or could cause them to be
unreliable. Passing along classified information and/or damaging
equipment can have serious negative national security impacts.

In other words, when a person applies for a position that requires
special faith and trust, there are others who are going to be looking for
the “skeletons in their closets.” This familiar term refers to something
in our past that we do not want to be exposed. It could be a crime that
is hidden, and exposure would result in punishment. It could be a
violation of trust with another, such as an extra-marital affair, and
exposure would mean repercussions from the other or others involved. It
could just be an embarrassing incident, and exposure would result in
ribbing and ridicule. Security and police agencies conducting background
checks are looking for evidence that might impact whether a person can
take a job in situations requiring security. Enemies doing background
checks are looking for the same evidence so that they can blackmail the
person into compromising sensitive information. The list of the types of
blackmail that a person could face because of their “skeletons in the
closet” can be quite long.

Ironically, most people who have a skeleton in their closet usually live
in the misguided belief that they can keep their skeletons hidden from
God. As long as no one else knows, they rationalize that God does not
know, either. Consequently, those skeleton in the closet sins remain
unconfessed and unforgiven. The bad thing is that they usually grow and
result in other sins to cover up the original wrong-doing, which only add
to the pile of skeletons in the closet. Frequently, though, in spite of
the fruitless hard work and heartache to keep the skeletons hidden, they
usually come out, bringing extreme distress and even ruin upon those
involved in the situations. Even while a person is busily hiding those
skeletons, reality happens, and the whole thing spills out.

Case in point. After becoming king, David caught sight of Bathsheba,
Uriah’s wife, and lusted after her. Sin, and skeleton, number 1. He could
have nipped it in the bud there by going to God, confessing and seeking
forgiveness. Instead, he acted upon his lust and had her brought to him
for a sexual relationship. Sin, and skeleton, number 2. Now things have
gotten worse, but David could still have confessed and made things right
in accordance with the commands of God. He didn’t.

Then, reality happened. Bathsheba sent word that she was pregnant. Uh-oh!
People would find out that things had happened, and those things would no
doubt be traced to the king. David had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah,
brought back from the battlefield for a little R & R with his wife. That
way Bathsheba’s pregnancy would be accounted for, and David could get
himself off the hook. Sin, and skeleton, number 3. And reality happened.
Uriah did not think it right for himself to enjoy the pleasure of being
with his wife while his fellow soldiers were still out in the field, so
he stayed apart from her. Those skeletons in David’s closet were getting
louder.

Now David was getting desperate. This whole thing was going to blow up on
him, so he devised a most despicable, cowardly, and evil plan imaginable
to keep that closet door shut. He arranged to have Uriah left exposed
during an attack on the enemy. As expected, Uriah died in battle. David
murdered Uriah in order to keep the skeletons in his closet. Sin, and
skeleton, number 4.

As amazing as it all seems, David must have thought he could keep his
skeletons hidden from God, too. But reality happened. “But the thing
David had done displeased the Lord. The Lord sent Nathan to David.” As He
did so many times, God sent a prophet to the king. God was going to knock
down that closet door. David’s skeletons were not going to stay hidden
very long. Nathan told his story about the poor man and his lamb, and the
rich man who unjustly and cruelly took that poor man’s lamb in order to
feed a traveler. You would think that David would start making a
connection, but this is another point that went over his head. “David
burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the
Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that
lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’”

Now David was caught. He was as set up for the confrontation as he had
set Uriah up to take a sword on the battlefield. “Then Nathan said to
David, ‘You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of
Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into
your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had
been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise
the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down
Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You
killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.’’”

Those skeletons weren’t just out of David’s closet; they were dancing all
over the place! The Lord said most plainly and emphatically, “You did it
in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.”
When reality happens, it hits hard. David had no one to blame but
himself. He abused his position of power; a position given to him as a
gift from God. He violated trust with another man’s wife; he violated
trust with a loyal soldier in his army; he violated trust with the people
of Israel; and he violated trust with God. At every stage of his
violations of trust, David’s sinful acts he committed were more evil and
more deadly than the one before it. Once he had one skeleton in his
closet, he had to add another one to keep the first one in. Once he added
the second, he had to add a third to keep the first two in. Once he had
three of them, he had to add a fourth to keep that door shut on the other
three. See a pattern developing here? Of course you do.

How many skeletons would David have stuffed into his closet if God had
not intervened? How long would David had denied reality if God had not
given him a reality check? Although angry, God loved David enough to
intervene. What would have happened had He not? Well, we cannot say
precisely, but it would not have been good. David recognized that in
Psalm 32:3-4, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my
groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my
strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” The work it takes to keep
those skeletons in the closet and to refrain from confessing those hidden
sins wears a person out. It builds up a hard heart and an uncaring
conscience that doesn’t even stop to consider the horrendous tragedy of
the murder of an innocent man. Skeletons in the closet kill us.

Skeletons in the closet are also futile. Like David, we pretend to
believe that they are hidden from God. Foolish man! Foolish woman!
Foolish youth! Our lives, from start to finish, are never hidden from
Almighty God. To believe otherwise is our delusion. To recognize the
truth is reality; reality always happens.

Nathan finished his visit with and rebuke of David with these parting
words, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But
because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter
contempt, the son born to you will die." This is tough for us to get a
handle on. It’s not fair for the child of David and Bathsheba to bear the
brunt of David’s sin like this. It doesn’t seem like it’s fair, anyway.
And it looks like David gets off pretty lightly. Uriah is dead.
Bathsheba’s son is dead. But David is still alive. He’s still married to
Bathsheba. He’s still king. Yeah, life is still roses for David, we might
think. I don’t think that it was. God did declare turmoil and calamity
upon David’s household. I think that David was forever haunted and
affected by those skeletons that he accumulated in his closet.

Regardless of what we might think about the punishment that God brought
on to David and his family, it drives home another stark point about
reality. Our skeletons - our sins - bring harm to the innocent. The
result of sin, especially when compounded by attempts to hide them, is
harm to others. David never intended for Uriah to die as a result of his
lust for Bathsheba. But he did. David never intended for his son to die
because of his act of adultery and murder. But he did. Members of our
military and diplomatic services never meant to betray an entire nation
when they committed a little “harmless” adultery. But they did. The list
can go on. People who have no direct part in another’s sins are
frequently the unfortunate victims of the results of those sins.

In the end, the only way to avoid such devastating consequences is to not
commit the sin. That is the ideal. God would have very much liked for
David to refuse to be drawn into the sinful acts he committed. But even
if we succumb to a temptation, we do not have to remain there. We do not
have to compound the very real problem by adding more skeletons to the
closet. Clearly, David and his whole family would have been much better
off had he confessed earlier and sought forgiveness from God. That is
what God wants; that is what God invites us to do.

Our action step for this Spiritual Adventure topic is simple and
straightforward. Sign a statement of confession, such as is found in this
morning’s Adventure journal. It goes like this: I am frightened because I
need to confess the sin of <blank>. Jesus, I am making this appeal for
mercy to you because <blank>. My reasons for wanting to be forgiven are
<blank>. Thank you for scriptures that encourage me, like Psalm 32:1,
“Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven.” What I believe your
forgiveness can do for me is <blank>. Right now I receive your
forgiveness and express my thanks in these words: <blank>. In the future,
to be a better friend to you, I want to <blank>. There is space for you
to sign and date it.

If it makes you take a big gulp to actually do such a thing on paper,
stop to remember that God already knows. You are hiding nothing from God.
And also remember that reality happens. Just because you are pretending
that your skeletons don’t exist in no way wipes out the reality that your
skeletons exist. As long as the skeletons are there, they can be found
out.

God loves us and wants us to have the right kind of relationship with
Him. The Bible makes this so obvious. There were those times when God was
on the verge of obliterating His people. Why didn’t He? Because His love
is stronger than His anger. God went through all the incomprehensible
sacrifice of becoming a man among us who was beaten, crucified, and
buried so that our skeletons can be destroyed. If the Biblical
testimonies of God’s love is not evidence enough, then there is nothing
that anyone else can do for you. But if you recognize the significant
truth of God’s Word, then you can know that He will forgive our sins and
remove, forever, those skeletons that bring us so much worry and torment.
Reality happens.

As is our custom, we will be holding the Maundy Thursday service here on
March 24th. During that service, we will have the opportunity of
submitting our confession to God and receiving His forgiveness. You will
want to participate in that.

This morning, if you need to come to God for salvation through Christ, or
if you need to shed some skeletons that are lurking in your closets, make
your response to God by coming to the altar or praying to Him where you
are at. Just do not delay. There is too much at stake to ignore the
warnings that God gives us through His Word. Come to God and know the
relief that comes through His forgiving, healing touch.


Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN