Whenever repentance is genuine, The Father declares that He no longer remembers the sins that were committed (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12; 10:17). As far as The Father is concerned, the slate becomes wiped clean.

Is this then fair to Uriah? Well, God gave David an everlasting punishment (2Samuel 12:10) for his murder of Uriah that was obviated only by the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Plus the child that was outcome of the sin died.

Is forgetting fair to Bathsheba? Well, by raising Solomon, who was not the child of the sin — the child of the sin died by God’s fiat decree — Bathsheba proved she was a righteous woman. So then, she gets credit of the third king over Israel, the wisest man of his times, Solomon. Should Bathsheba feel cheated?

What God has, in presence of genuine repentance, righteously chosen to forget, we would do well not to hold against another.

We are to learn the lesson of David’s fall and celebrate the fact that, absent his foibles, David was indeed a man after God’s own heart.

Why was David a man after God’s heart? Because in presence of a prophecy that he would be king, David chose to live by faith, would not take the matter of the prophecy into his own hands. We know of course that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), and that the righteous live by their steadfastness to the promises of The Father (Habakkuk 2:4).

The lesson of David’s fall? David was not used to being at home at the time Kings typically go to war. But he had almost gotten killed by a Philistine giant not too long past and his mighty men declared they no longer would accept the risk of him going to battle with them. At a loss as to what to do with himself, David went up on that rooftop, and the rest we know.

If David had set his heart to seek The Father, if he had not been resentful that he no longer was as strong as he used to be, which he probably blamed on God, which would explain his hardness of heart towards The Father, he would not have gone up on that rooftop at a time in which he would have seen Bathsheba.

When we righteously have to alter our course, instead of being resentful that The Father no longer wants us to do certain things, let us strive to keep Jesus left, right, and center, asking, with thankfulness in our hearts,

“how do I make the most of this new course?”

This is the lesson of David’s fall, the lesson that focuses the story on us, as opposed to a man who already has completed his course, who already is declared, righteously so, justified by The Father.

After all, if there were not forgiveness with God, none would be able to stand in presence of The Father, not Uriah, not Bathsheba, not David, not you, not I (Psalms 130:3–4).