I am confused. I was named after David in the Bible and was always proud of it. But now I discover that David was a murderer and an adulterer. I am thinking about going with my middle name no so that I won't be associated with that reputation. What do you think? - D

Dave,

You are right.  David from the Bible was a murderer and an adulterer.  But that's not all he was.  Let's look at the whole picture.  David was also chosen by God to lead His people.  He loved God and "the LORD" was "with him,"  (1 Sam 16:18).  David was a man who followed God. 

However, there came a time in his life when David became complacent.   It was during this time that he saw a woman and became lustful for her.  Instead of turning his head and heart from her, he took her, she became pregnant, and so he ended up having her husband murdered.  He then took her as his wife.  God knew of this and He had Samuel confront David about it.  David, being king could have had Samuel killed for confronting him, but David took the rebuke for what it was and he repented.  Still, he paid dearly for his actions.  The consequences of his sin rippled through the rest of his reigning years.  You can read about his sin in 2 Samuel 11 & 12. 

Even though David fell, should we condemn him?  Obviously the answer is a resounding, "NO!"  God didn't condemn him.  He forgave him when he repented.   God also forgives us when we repent.  But God doesn't take away the natural consequences of our sin.

That said, we need to remember that we humans don't see as God sees.  God looks at the heart.  David's heart was turned to God.  He strayed.  He returned.  We are the same.  We love God.  But we stray.  Hopefully we return. 

God's re-acceptance of David should reassure us - like the story of the prodigal son and the forgiving father in the New Testament.  We should be comforted that no matter how great our sin, we are embraced by God when we repent.  Most of us won't commit the sin of murder.  We won't commit adultery.  Those are some of the worst of the sins we could commit. They fall on the top ten list of BAD THINGS not to do.  But God sees all sin as repugnant.  We aren't to compare ourselves to others.  We are to use our perfect God as our measuring rod and understand that we never measure even close to His perfection. 

We can know through David's story that if God would accept someone who has committed the most heinous of actions back into His embrace, He will accept us, who also sin, back too.  Instead of looking at David as a let down, look at him as one who is like us, a sinner who loves God but strays.  Be encouraged because even though David failed miserably to the flesh, God used him to do great things.  Be happy that he found his way back to God and thus was deemed worthy to be listed as an ancestor of Jesus! 

As far as your name goes, try to emulate the good in this namesake of your and hope that you can love God so much that it can be said that 'the LORD is with you!'  Grasp the fact that David did great things for God and open yourself to Him, asking Him to use you to do great things too.