Articles
Despising God
Do you despise God? Surely not. To despise is to regard with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain; to scorn; to loathe. It is hard to imagine any of our readers having such a disposition toward the Almighty.
Before we are too quick to answer, however, let’s consider a well-known event in David’s life.
One evening David was walking on the roof of his house, and from that vantage point he could see a beautiful woman bathing. David sent for her and committed adultery with her. Their “one night stand” resulted in a pregnancy. When Bathsheba informed David of the situation, he sought to cover it up by bringing Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, home from the war he was fighting. Uriah came, but he was too honorable to enjoy the pleasures of home while his fellow-soldiers were at war. Even when David made him drunk he still would not go home. Finally, David arranged for his death. When that was accomplished, David married Bathsheba, even though he already had a half dozen or more wives (2 Samuel 3:1-5).
In time, God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin. By means of a clever story about a rich man taking a poor man’s pet lamb, Nathan gave David a glimpse of the enormity of his wrongs. “You are the man!”
Now listen carefully to God’s word through Nathan. (I have highlighted two phrases.) “Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife” (2 Samuel 12:9-10).
God accused David of despising His word, commandments including “you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” and “you shall not commit adultery” and “you shall not commit murder.” God added that when David despised God’s word by ignoring it, “you have despised Me.”
God had earlier used similar language of Eli’s sons (1 Samuel 2:17, 30). In their case it was evidently an overall disposition. David, in contrast, was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), one who often wrote about his love for God and His word (e.g., Psalm 19:7-14). Nevertheless, in this sequence of events, David had manifested great contempt.
The point of this brief study is simple: we need to appreciate the gravity of setting aside God’s will—in reality, of setting aside God. God calls it despising Him.
