Men and women all across this globe can relate to King David in some way, form, or fashion.  He was talented, gifted, and certainly human.  One magnificent thing about David is that he knew how to set his shortcomings right, especially when he realized that trying to cover up his wrong doing was unpleasing to the Almighty God and only made things worst.  So who was David?  David was the king of Israel and was known for being a warrior and a writer of many of the psalms.  He was the youngest son of Jesse and began his life as a shepherd in Bethlehem.  One day while David was tending to the sheep, he was discovered by the prophet Samuel and anointed to be king of Israel. Humble David returned to his sheep as King Saul was the serving as king at the time. He first met Saul when king Saul was looking for someone to play music for him to calm his spirit.

As a little boy, David came upon the Giant Goliath of Gath, who was 9 feet 6 inches tall, and who picked on and intimidated the Israelites.  With everyone else being afraid to stand-up against the giant, David in his bravery, pick up a stick and a few smooth stones, confronted Goliath who was armed in war attire. David made a slingshot and used the power of God's name to defeat and killed the giant. Because of this mind blowing defeat by David, Saul became very jealous and tried to kill him several times, sending David hiding in caves.

One day while David was hiding from Saul in a cave, David crept up on Saul and had the opportunity to kill him, instead, he cut a piece from his clothing and confronted Saul. This caused Saul to breakdown and he acknowledged that David would one day be king. Saul asked David to promise that he would not destroy his descendants. Although David promised, it did not stop Saul from hating and trying to kill him and bring him down.

Once David established his kingdom, he brought the Ark of the Covenant, which had been passed from city to city, to Jerusalem. He later wanted to build a temple for God, but he was told by the prophet that his son would build the Temple because he had been a warrior and shed blood.

Despite being a successful soldier, David had many problems in his personal life. One day while the men were at war, he saw a beautiful woman name Bathsheba, from his rooftop. He found out that she was married to Uriah, a soldier who was away at war.  David committed adultery with Bathsheba and she became pregnant with his child. David connived a plan and called Uriah from battle to make it seem like Uriah had fathered Bathsheba's baby. Uriah however, refused to leave the war, so David sent Uriah in the heat of the battle and he was ultimately killed.

David married Bathsheba but was confronted by the prophet Nathan.  Being filled with guilt and repentance, David admitted his sin. Bathsheba's child died in punishment; however, Bathsheba and David later had a son name Solomon. The problems in David's family continued to escalate when his son Amnon raped his half sister, Tamar. Resulting in David's other son, Absalom, then killing Amnon.

Aside from being a warrior, David was a poet, skillful writer, and talented musician.  He is described as a man after God's own heart, because despite his sin and wrong doing, he administered true repentance.  Repentance doesn't just mean to be sorry, it means to be so sorry that you stop your wrong doing and turn away from it, never to look that way again.  That's what David did.  He wrote the 51st Psalm as proof, and you never again hear that David returned to committing adultery or even trying to cover up his sins.  He got God's heart, or Got God's attention rather.  He ruled Israel for 40 years, leading the Israelites in victory during battle and conquered many lands.  

The lesson in this story is that in life we will make some wrong turns along the way, but when we realize that we are headed in the wrong direction, we ought to immediately make a u-turn.  God does allow second chances, but when we receive our second chance, we should make sure that we are sincere about changing our ways and truly repent for our wrong doing.  The thing that we must understand is that regardless of us receiving a second chance and saying "I'm sorry", there are some consequences that we will suffer.  Some of those consequences may be legal, some may be medical, and others might be a big loss of something.  However, while we may be reaping what we sowed, we should keep a positive and repentant attitude that we continue to strive to do that which is right.  The road won't be easy, but it will certainly be worth it.