Much has been written about David’s affair with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. My question, however, is why? David had just about everything a man could want. God even would have supplied him with more wives if David wished. So, why did David jeopardize his relationship with God, if not his livelihood, to have a brief tryst with another man’s wife?

     The prophet, Nathan, offers a clue: “he did this…because he had no compassion” (2 Samuel 12:6, CEB). In Latin, the word compassion means to suffer with someone else. Compassion is akin to empathy or the capacity to feel someone else’s pain.

 

     Earlier in his life, David had demonstrated the ability to express compassion when he treated his enemy’s grandson, Mephibosheth, as a member of David’s own family. It seems that David was kind of heart. Then something in David changed. His kind heart became calloused. David disregarded Bathsheba’s plea not to be disgraced. He ruthlessly had Bathsheba’s husband killed to cover the sin David had committed. “He had no compassion,” was Nathan’s diagnosis.

 

     These four words should serve as a stark warning to all of us. The heart that becomes insensitive toward others is vulnerable to becoming insubordinate toward God. I once heard compassion defined as the willingness to allow one’s heart to break for the things that break God’s heart.

 

     One of the blessings I have observed during this recent pandemic is the great outpouring of love Americans have extended toward one another. Our church organist, Tom Guth, shared that a group of priests paraded in a car down his street blaring songs of hope on the first Sunday of Easter. First responders have taken to singing happy birthday to people who are sheltering in place. The wonderful church I serve has stepped up their giving to assist those who have been financially hurt by the Covid-19 outbreak.

 

     My hope is that as this world-wide epidemic moves closer toward closure, our hearts will remain open. I pray that Nathan’s diagnosis of David’s cardiac condition will not become ours, as well. I dream that no heart will lose its desire to be broken for the things that break God’s heart.