Season 5 - Episode 3 - Teshuvah in Action: King David's Return to God

Shalom everyone! This is Rabbi Brian I'm glad you joined us for another episode of the Dust of the Rabbi podcast. In this episode of the Dust the Rabbi podcast, Rabbi Brian delves into Teshuvah, focusing on its application in the life of King David. The episode elaborates on the concept of Teshuvah, which means 'returning to God,' and highlights David's journey of repentance, renewal, and restoration. Rabbi Brian walks listeners through the historical and spiritual significance of David, detailing his roles as a shepherd, warrior, psalmist, and king. He underscores David's heartfelt repentance as captured in Psalm 51 and outlines the steps of true Teshuvah: acknowledging sin, feeling its weight, seeking renewal, and committing to a new path. 

🎙Four Steps to the Teshuvah Process from Episode 2 of Season 5:

🔹 1. Recognize the wrong (Hakarat HaChet) – Admit where you’ve strayed.

🔹 2. Feel the weight (Charatah) – Genuine sorrow leads to change.

🔹 3. Turn back (Azivat HaChet) – Leave behind what caused separation.

🔹 4. Commit to a new path (Kabbalah Le’atid) – Walk differently as we move forward on a new path; accepting a resolution upon oneself for the future

Through David's story, Rabbi Brian encourages listeners to confront their own sins, embrace God's mercy, and transform their lives by returning to God wholeheartedly. So let's jump in to our third episode and dive in so we can continue the Teshuvah Process, as we download Ancient Jewish Wisdom, and become dusty from the dust of the rabbi, and drink in His words with thirst. 

Transcript

 Hello, everyone. This is Rabbi Brian. I'm so glad you've joined us for another episode of the Dust the Rabbi podcast. We are still in season number five, and we're looking at episode number three, which is almost a part two of episode two that we did on Teshuvah, repentance. So I'm glad you've joined us and you're ready to dive into the second half.

And I call this episode, Teshuvah in Action. King David's return to God. So you ready? Just remember that the Dust the Rabbi podcast is all about downloading ancient Jewish wisdom in a modern world. 

Understanding Teshuvah: Returning to God

As you're listening today, I want you to consider the things in your life that need to change.

The only way they're going to change is with a teshuvah process. There needs to be steps in your returning back to God. We found out last episode that returning back to God, teshuvah, is from the root Shuv, which means to return, and we said that it's returning back to God as our creator. So today I want to jump into a little bit of a part two of that.

And we're going to explore what carries the very heartbeat of redemption. And that is when there's full restoration and renewal. If we repent or we return, the goal should be renewal and restoration. And that's exactly what happened in the life of David. There was a sense of renewal. And there was definitely a restoration.

King David's Journey: Renewal and Restoration

We could even say that he never lost his position as king of Israel. This is a man that we could go into depth about. You might not know that David ruled 40 years as a king. Seven and a half years in Hebron. Hebron is where he ruled over Judah, the tribe he came from. And then another 33 years.

In Jerusalem as king over Judah and Israel. So when you think about these years, these 40 years of David reminds me of the 40 years of Israel in the wilderness, just as they had to follow Moses to come out of Egypt and enter the promised land, Israel needed David to be a righteous king for those 40 years to experience all the wonderful Psalms of David that were written to experience a royal dynasty.

That God established through the lion of the tribe of Judah, that is the king of Israel, the king of Judah. And we're thankful today that we have not only a king, but we have a warrior, we have a psalmist, and we have someone who reigned as a king in righteousness all of his days, except for in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

So if you don't know about this King David, let me read a couple of things that might just give you a background of why this is so important as a Teshuvah process in the life of David. David is a king, who's a very significant person in the Bible and in Jewish history. He's a warrior, he's a king, but he's also a psalmist, and he wrote Psalm 51 that we're going to glean from today.

 His life is chronicled in books like 1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings, and 1st  Chronicles, and even the poetry that he wrote, the Hebrew poetry of the book of Psalms, the book of Tehillim, a book of praises.

David's Early Life and Background

And so we're going to take a look at his early life, his birth and his family, he definitely has a history there, he is the youngest son of Jesse, or Yishai as we'd say in Hebrew.

He's a descendant of the tribe of Judah. His mother's identity not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, but some Jewish commentary would say that he was the son of a concubine, or at least someone who played the role of a concubine.  So there's a little bit of a drama going on, and this drama leads to a big storyline that shows us about our own personal life.

So there was a lot of questions about David's birth. He even talks about in Psalm 51, in sin did my mother conceive me. Even though we're not sure of the full story, we definitely know there's a lot of drama in this timeline and history of David.

How about his birthplace? His birthplace was Bethlehem, the very place it was prophesied that the son of David, the Messiah, would be born in Micah chapter 5, verse 2 and 3. What was his occupation before he was king? See, David was a shepherd over sheep.

In other words, the way I shepherd these sheep, God, I know you're going to shepherd me and care for me and feed me and take care of me all the days of my life. And that's exactly what God did. God took care of David.

And God wants to take care of you and me, just like he did the one who was the apple of his eye, the one who was the king of Israel, So if you think about his occupation as a shepherd, and you think about how he became king, how does a shepherd boy in the back of the booth in the corner of the dark get recognized as king?

There was a prophet by the name of Samuel that actually recognized him because he went looking for the next king of Israel. Because the first king was King Saul. But God had chosen David. you see Samuel anointed him as king, even while Saul was still in power.

And how about the other occupation that David took on? This Shepherd Boy became a Psalmist of Israel and the Psalms that we read in the Bible, a hundred and fifty of them. Many of them are attributed directly to David and others just under his psalmist ministry.

He played the harp and the liar. He composed many songs. He even comforted the heart of Saul when he was in torment through his ministry of singing praises to God.  David was also a warrior. Did you know that Saul killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands? And so many of the Psalms of David even talk about God training him for battle, training him for warfare.

David's Sin and Repentance

As the king of Israel, you could say he abused his authority by summoning a girl by the name of Bathsheba who was already married to a man by the name of Uriah the Hittite.

And this man was in battle for David as a part of the army of Israel. And while he was off at battle, here was David, not going to battle. But seeing a woman bathe on her rooftop, you might ask the question, why was she making herself visible in bathing on the rooftop? Remember that David's palace was probably higher than anyone's home or their rooftop. And so possibly she didn't know that King David was looking. But again, that's still a questionable idea, isn't it? That, she was bathing on her rooftop, and here David looked at her. And that second look always gets you in trouble, guys.

That's exactly what he did. He looked twice. He kept on looking until he summoned her to his room by his soldiers. Knowing that his soldiers knew exactly what was going to happen that night, he slept with her. He committed adultery. And that sin is recorded in Psalm 51. David came up with a plan after he found out that Bathsheba was pregnant with his child.

So that when she gave birth, no one would know that the child was his, but they would all assume it was Uriah's. Another plot, sin leading to sin, caused him to say, put him on the front lines of battle, hoping he would die in battle.

So again, his sin would not be revealed. And so it wasn't until the prophet Nathan, not Samuel, but Nathan that came to him, as it's recorded in Psalm 51, That revealed to him the gravity of his sin. So much that David began to pour his heart out to God. And it's amazing when you read this Psalm of David, how powerful it is.

The words that were said. That God desires wisdom in the inner parts. He wants us to know truth in our hearts. That David cried out, create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. He prayed, God, don't take your Spirit from me.   David knew that in the breaking of his heart, in his contrite spirit, that there was true teshuvah.

This is where he realized this is the sacrifice that God wants, not on the altar made by man, but the altar of prayer that goes up to God. And see, even then, David knew, I can't even bring my sacrifices of praise when there's still sin in the camp, sin in my heart. Sin in my palace. Sin in my kingdom. You and I have to confront the giants in our life like David did.

It's the hardest thing for all of us to do, is to admit when we've done wrong. But thank God that God is a God of mercy and grace. And I love this about King David and his story. God never removed him from his position.

Because he did repent before him. and this is so amazing, that when God records the sins of the kings of Israel, especially 1 Kings 15, if you read 1 through 5, you notice all of them did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, and didn't follow in the footsteps of their forefather, King David, who always did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, except in this matter of Uriah the Hittite.

Because after Psalm 51 was written, this was a closed issue. He didn't say the sin with Bathsheba. He didn't say the adultery. He said in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. Meaning to God, it was a matter that was a closed case. His sins had been forgiven, his transgression had been blotted out, and this is what God does for us when we step into teshuvah.

Remember last week we talked about four different steps or stages of forgiveness. Turning back to God, so that we leave behind what separated us from Him.

And then committing to walking in a new path. And that was powerful, because we said that as a basic step for all of us. But do you know that was the same thing that David went through? He went through a season of feeling all of the weight of his sin.

So notice that God called him still righteous, that he did what was good in the eyes of the Lord, all of his days, which means after Psalm 51 revealed the heart of King David, he always kept this Teshuvah process on his mind. And I believe he repented before God every single day, which is why he said, search me, O God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts. In all your ways acknowledge, point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. That was the legacy of King David. What can we learn from this today?

Lessons from Psalm 51

When you think about Psalm 51, this teshuvah prayer, we can call it. There was a process of returning back to God step by step.

The first one was recognizing, admitting that he had sinned. David doesn't make excuses. He acknowledges his sin fully. He says, against you and against you only have I sinned. He also, as a step two, deeply felt the weight of his sin.

And this is what we see in verses five through nine. David doesn't minimize his sin, he feels the weight of it. He feels the pain that he caused God and others. He even said, my sin is always before me. He knew that his sin was black and caused his heart to be burdened.

See, the lesson is that true Teshuvah involves godly sorrow , as it says in 2 Corinthians the third step was turning away from the sin and seeking renewal. David doesn't just want forgiveness. He wants a transformation. He doesn't want to go back to the old person he was.

This is why he said, create in me a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, take not your Holy Spirit from me, but restore unto me the joy of my salvation, and give me a new willing spirit. To have a new spirit and new heart, that's more than forgiveness. Sometimes we want to forgive, but really we want to forget in our mind what we did.

But accountability says, I know what I did, but I need to change from the inside out. And the only way to do that is to get a new heart and new spirit. So that you never go back to the person you were. You're a new creation. This is leading to the fourth step  David did. He committed to a new path. Not only to teach himself, but to teach others. Look says in Psalm 51. 13 through 17. He says, Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. He says, You don't delight in sacrifice, but you want the sacrifices which are a broken and contrite spirit. True Teshuvah not only changes you, it changes others around you.

Applying Teshuvah in Our Lives

King David returning back to God was a full renewal and restoration of who he was and why God chose him. Remember, David never was removed from the throne, meaning that God knew as the apple of his eye, he would always be the son on the throne that he chose.

We are his child. We are royal king's kids. And we are kings and priests unto God. And just like King David, we've got to restore ourselves, restore our position, not on earth, but in heaven with God. We want to make sure that we have a clean heart and a right spirit.

Because a wrong spirit or a wrong attitude leads to us thinking we can sin and nobody sees. When we know God sees everything. Might as well open up to your Heavenly Father and tell Him what you're really going through. That you acknowledge the sin, you feel the weight of it.

You're ready to turn and return back to Him and never go back to what separated you from Him. And then the new path, let's not just teach ourselves how to walk in repentance, but let's teach other people how to return back to God too. People around us need to see the change in us. Today is a day for you to have a full comeback.

Your setback is only a setup for a comeback. And if you have made mistakes, and if you have sinned before God, then you can learn from King David too. This King of Israel, this lion like warrior, this psalmist with his sweet songs of praise to God, God was not going to lose a leader like that. Because a leader knows how to lead themself before they lead others.

He knows your sin. He knows your problem. He knows your setbacks. He knows your struggle. He even knows your trauma. He doesn't want you to live as a victim. He wants you to live as a victor in total victory.

So today, let's be like King David. Read Psalm 51. And allow me, and this podcast, and the words you've heard, to be like the words David heard from Nathan the prophet. It should be an encouragement, not just to get dusty from the dust, the rabbi, we want that too , but we want you to be covered in God's love and mercy.

and your heart filled with wisdom and truth. Your heart clean and right. So that when you offer praise to God as a sacrifice, it's because first you had a broken and contrite heart over your sin, over your faults, over your mistakes, over your regrets. So every day of your life could be like King David.

He said, Search me, O God, and know my heart.  Test me and examine me and know all my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Today, that's my prayer for you. If you need to return back to God, He's waiting for you to return.

He's listening for your voice. He wants to take you into His arms and embrace you. He wants you to enter into his gates with thanksgiving into his courts with praise. These are the words of David. He wants you to be like David that says, Oh, magnify the Lord with me.  Let's exalt his name together.

Trust me, when you finally let go of the thing holding you back, your praise will be more rich. Your time with God in the word will be more fulfilling. Your faith that you share with others. Will be more effective and your life will leave a legacy like David did not only as King as a warrior as a psalmist But as a man of God Today whether you're a man or a woman listening under the sound of my voice Trust me This dust will give you wisdom to walk in every day of your life Knowing that God heals your hurts And he fixes your mistakes, and he restores you when you've sinned.

But if you come back to him, just like a prodigal son that comes back to a father, you will be restored like King David was. You might not even lose your position, but the position you're really more concerned with, are you in right relationship with God today?

Final Thoughts and Prayer

So let me pray with you. Heavenly Father, we thank you for those that are Just needing teshuvah, a process of healing, a process of renewal, a process of restoration, the greatest position is not to be a king or to be a psalmist, to be a leader, but someone who is in the presence of a heavenly father who loves us unconditionally and wants us to stay in right standing with him. Thank you, Father, that you are our God. You are king of the universe. You are our sovereign lord.

And thank you that you've given us your Messiah. Not only to die for us and rise from the dead for us, but to lead us and guide us through the spirit that was upon him that is now upon us and living inside us. Let your spirit lead us. The Spirit of the messiah lead us every day and let us be like David and let us experience complete joy and peace through restoration, through teshuvah.

In Jesus name we pray, B'Shem Yeshua, amen. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. Keep listening to The Dust of the Rabbi. Share it with friends. Can't wait to see you next time as we break down some more Hebrew ancient Jewish wisdom. Love you. See you soon. Lehit'ra'ot! See you next time!