Of Kings and Presidents

I used to hate surprises, but liked being surprised. An oxymoron-gone-awry? Yup!

Surprise? You arrive home with bad hair, in boyfriend jeans, grubby tee and flip-flops, only to be serenaded by thirty runway-ready eager guests...

Being surprised? The totally unexpected, but with distinctly unembarrassing possibilities... Note my caution either way; latent control-freak dreading one, but circling the other.

Obliviousness sucks, but even nasty surprises have benefits. Long after the ‘How?’ of the thrill and horror have subsided, we do get to wonder ‘Why?’

Picture Jerusalem, 997BC. King David ambling along his rooftop. Admiring the jewel of his realm. He spies Bathsheba - wife of the soldier, Uriah - bathing in her backyard. In a split second, he covets her glory, and loses his.

Cue the ‘Ignominy for Dummies' three-step playbook.

♤ Mistakenly 👀 impregnate her.

♤ Try to coerce her unwitting husband into thinking the baby is his.

♤ Arrange an "honourable" death for the poor cuckold.

David's face on hearing Uriah was still alive? A gamut - amazement to unbelief to realisation to panic and back again. Uriah had disobeyed orders, standing guard with his comrades rather than “romancing" his wife; showing himself a better man than a once honourable king.

Throughout history, autocrats have proved that 'noblesse oblige' is not innate. Fuelled by lust, greed and power, they succumb to theft, adultery and cowardice at the expense of their subjects.

In a palace on a hill in Jerusalem; a mansion on an avenue in Washington; a villa encompassing a rock in Abuja... Same story. Different scenarios. One exception.

Genuine remorse, repentance and six simple words redeemed David in the eyes of God. “I have sinned against the Lord."

No desperation or self-delusion. No tyranny disguised as incompetence. He simply accepted responsibility and the subsequent punishment.

We all sin. But are saved by the same grace with which God turned a king’s blunder into a design for his future and ours; heirs of Jesus - both son of and Lord over David.

The alternative is infamy and destruction. Oh, to be a betting woman...

#2Samuel11&12

#Proverbs28:13-14

#TrumpleThinSkin

#BadBoyBubu