The Final Song (Part 2)
King Louis XIV, dying, called his son to his bedside and warned him, "Kings die like everyone else." Stephen Davey opens with a string of famous last words to introduce David's own — his final recorded speech in 1 Chronicles 28-29, delivered to his leaders and his son near the end of his life. God had already told David no on his greatest dream, building the temple, handing that honor to Solomon instead — and rather than nursing bitterness, David models surrender, thanking God for what he was given rather than mourning what he wasn't. He then pulls Solomon aside for a father-son charge that has nothing to do with success or comfort and everything to do with knowing God. The sermon closes with David's final psalm of worship, a king who took off his own crown before the King of kings. It's a fitting last song from the shepherd who became Israel's singer.
The Final Song
King Louis XIV, dying, called his son to his bedside and warned him, "Kings die like everyone else." Stephen Davey opens with a string of famous last words to introduce David's own — his final recorded speech in 1 Chronicles 28-29, delivered to his leaders and his son near the end of his life. God had already told David no on his greatest dream, building the temple, handing that honor to Solomon instead — and rather than nursing bitterness, David models surrender, thanking God for what he was given rather than mourning what he wasn't. He then pulls Solomon aside for a father-son charge that has nothing to do with success or comfort and everything to do with knowing God. The sermon closes with David's final psalm of worship, a king who took off his own crown before the King of kings. It's a fitting last song from the shepherd who became Israel's singer.
Do Babies Really Go To Heaven? (Part 2)
After Nathan's confrontation, David and Bathsheba watch their newborn son grow sick and, on the seventh day, die — and David's response stuns his own servants: he stops fasting, gets up, washes, worships, and eats. Stephen Davey uses David's grief in 2 Samuel 12 to tackle one of the hardest questions a believer faces — do babies who die really go to heaven? Working from Psalm 139, he shows David describing his own formation in the womb as the deliberate handiwork of God, and argues that life, and personhood, begin at conception. From there he walks through what scripture does and doesn't say about infants, sin, and salvation, landing on David's own confidence that his son wasn't lost, only gone ahead. "I shall go to him," David says, "but he will not return to me" — and Davey leaves grieving parents with that same hope of reunion.
Do Babies Really Go To Heaven? (Part 1)
After Nathan's confrontation, David and Bathsheba watch their newborn son grow sick and, on the seventh day, die — and David's response stuns his own servants: he stops fasting, gets up, washes, worships, and eats. Stephen Davey uses David's grief in 2 Samuel 12 to tackle one of the hardest questions a believer faces — do babies who die really go to heaven? Working from Psalm 139, he shows David describing his own formation in the womb as the deliberate handiwork of God, and argues that life, and personhood, begin at conception. From there he walks through what scripture does and doesn't say about infants, sin, and salvation, landing on David's own confidence that his son wasn't lost, only gone ahead. "I shall go to him," David says, "but he will not return to me" — and Davey leaves grieving parents with that same hope of reunion.
Telling the Truth to God
For 23 years, Katherine Power lived under a borrowed name in Oregon — new house, new family, new life — until the weight of a secret finally drove her to turn herself in. Stephen Davey opens with that story to introduce Psalm 51, David's own journal entry after Nathan ended his year of hiding, handed over to Israel's choirmaster to be sung by everyone who ever needed it. Davey traces five movements through the psalm: David begging for mercy, owning his sin without a single excuse, admitting the problem runs deeper than his actions to his very nature, asking God to create a clean heart out of nothing, and resolving to teach other sinners the way back. Confession isn't explaining yourself. It's telling God the truth and letting Him do what only He can do.
Caught Red Handed (Part 2)
The phrase "caught red handed" goes back to a Scottish law about poachers with blood still on their hands—evidence too obvious to deny. Stephen Davey uses it to frame 2 Samuel 12, where God finally sends Nathan to a king who's kept his secret for a full year. Nathan doesn't accuse; he tells a story about a rich man who stole a poor man's beloved lamb, and David erupts in fury and sentences the man to death—unaware he's sentencing himself. Then comes the line: "You are the man." What follows is sobering, as Nathan lays out consequences that will play out across David's family for the rest of his life. But David's response is only two words in Hebrew: I have sinned. No excuses, no bargaining, no blaming. And Nathan's answer comes just as fast—the Lord has put away your sin. We assume forgiveness should cost more, but that's because we forget the atonement isn't measured by our tears. Don't hide your red hands. The Son of David already died to make them white as snow.
Caught Red Handed (Part 1)
The phrase "caught red handed" goes back to a Scottish law about poachers with blood still on their hands—evidence too obvious to deny. Stephen Davey uses it to frame 2 Samuel 12, where God finally sends Nathan to a king who's kept his secret for a full year. Nathan doesn't accuse; he tells a story about a rich man who stole a poor man's beloved lamb, and David erupts in fury and sentences the man to death—unaware he's sentencing himself. Then comes the line: "You are the man." What follows is sobering, as Nathan lays out consequences that will play out across David's family for the rest of his life. But David's response is only two words in Hebrew: I have sinned. No excuses, no bargaining, no blaming. And Nathan's answer comes just as fast—the Lord has put away your sin. We assume forgiveness should cost more, but that's because we forget the atonement isn't measured by our tears. Don't hide your red hands. The Son of David already died to make them white as snow.
The Cover Up (Part 2)
Cover-ups follow a predictable script—deny, stall, silence the witness, then manage the damage—and Stephen Davey shows how precisely David's steps in 2 Samuel 11 match that pattern. Recall Uriah from the front, ply him with food and flattery and finally drink, and hope he goes home to his wife. But Uriah won't do it; one writer noted he had more character drunk than David had sober. So the king moves from pressure to murder, sending Uriah back to the battlefield carrying his own death warrant, and Joab—who will hold this over David for the rest of his life—makes it look like the cost of war. Then comes the state funeral, the speeches, the respectable marriage, and a secret kept for nearly a year. But the chapter ends with one quiet line: the thing David had done displeased the Lord. Two truths worth writing down: the silence of God is not the absence of God, and His patience is not His approval. At every step down, there's still the other option—confess.
The Cover Up
Cover-ups follow a predictable script—deny, stall, silence the witness, then manage the damage—and Stephen Davey shows how precisely David's steps in 2 Samuel 11 match that pattern. Recall Uriah from the front, ply him with food and flattery and finally drink, and hope he goes home to his wife. But Uriah won't do it; one writer noted he had more character drunk than David had sober. So the king moves from pressure to murder, sending Uriah back to the battlefield carrying his own death warrant, and Joab—who will hold this over David for the rest of his life—makes it look like the cost of war. Then comes the state funeral, the speeches, the respectable marriage, and a secret kept for nearly a year. But the chapter ends with one quiet line: the thing David had done displeased the Lord. Two truths worth writing down: the silence of God is not the absence of God, and His patience is not His approval. At every step down, there's still the other option—confess.
Governed by Lesser Passions (Part 2)
A tutor once shouted at a young Marcus Antony that he was able to conquer the world but unable to resist temptation—and Stephen Davey suggests the same caption could be written over 2 Samuel 11. The narrative slows way down here, and that's deliberate: God wants us to learn something. Two truths surface before David ever walks out on that rooftop. First, if a man like David can fall, so can any of us. Second, nobody falls into sin in a moment—David had been quietly compromising in this area for two decades, so this was simply the next step in a direction he'd been facing for years. Even the servant who identifies Bathsheba packs his answer with warnings, and David ignores every one of them. The hard truth is that lust is never satisfied; it's like drinking saltwater when you're dying of thirst. And the way out isn't just killing off lesser passions, but trading them for greater ones—a deeper hunger for Christ than for anything sin can offer.