2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:13
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD. 1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." 7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ’I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11 "This is what the LORD says: ’Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’" 13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
“Prison Break 2 – Convicted”
A defendant was on trial for murder in Oklahoma. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no body. In the defense’s closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly.
A minute passed. Nothing happened. Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I, therefore, put it to you that there is reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty." The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty. "But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door." Answered the jury foreman, "Oh, we did look. But your client never did!”
You can hide it… you can play tricks to try to cover it up… but very often we are our own worst enemy when it comes to covering up the bad things we have done. We… “self incriminate” ourselves. Through our actions… through our inactions… even though we think we have done such a good job “hiding” it… usually the only person we are fooling is ourselves. You can tell… simply by the path we take whether or not we have separated ourselves from the will of God.
The simple truth is this, when we begin to put God into a prison of our making, we distance ourselves from God… and anytime we distance ourselves from God, it leads to some dramatic changes in our attitudes, in our motivations, and in our lives in general… and people can tell. When we stop praying… when we stop listening… when we stop going to God on a regular basis for direction and guidance for our lives… it shows!
That is where we find King David in our text today. It shouldn’t be a big surprise after last week when David turned his back on God to pursue the affections of a woman who was not his wife that we would find him this week “on the outs” with God. So much so that David and God weren’t on speaking terms anymore. Enter Nathan. Nathan, David’s friend… Nathan, the “King’s advisor”… Nathan, the guy who God picks to go and talk to David about how dumb he’s being.
It had to have been one of the hardest things he’d ever been asked to do. I mean… really. How often do you have to walk up to a king and tell him he’s been behaving like something out of an episode of “Kings Gone Wild!” And yet… that is exactly what God asked Nathan to do.
Like I said… you’d think that God could just go and talk to David himself, but apparently there was some sort of friction there. Seems that David had separated himself from the Lord, had “put God into a prison,” so he wasn’t in a position to hear God’s wisdom. So what kind of luck was Nathan supposed to have?
Nathan had to be smart about this. You can’t just walk up to God’s chosen… God’s anointed one… the King of all Israel with a big 2x4 and smack him in the head with it. Or can you? Tempting. No… no… he would need some tact. So he devises a plan… tell the king about some “other man” who has sinned, and let him pass judgment on himself.
King… there has been this big moron and I don’t know what to do with him. He has more than he could ever want, yet still he envies that which he cannot have. He has oppressed one of your own people and caused him great pain and misery, not for some just cause but out of selfishness and greed. He has taken the thing most precious to the man and repaid him with more pain and suffering. What should I do with this moron.
David rightfully becomes enraged and declares the sentence should be death, he should have to pay fourfold for the pain he has caused. Then, the axe drops… “Oh… and David! YOU are the moron… and it’s time for you to have a time-out.”
Now, there are a good half dozen or more ways that David could respond to being called out on his sin. It is something I have learned in detail the past few years watching William after he has been cornered doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
1) Guilt (I know I’m in trouble)
2) Embarrassment/Shame (Puppy dog eyes come out)
3) Anger (I don’t wanna go in Timeout)
4) Justification (But I just wanted to…)
5) Avoidance (Run around the room avoiding capture)
We can get stuck on this point…
1) Guilt can cripple us…
2) Embarrasment can keep us hidden…
3) Anger can blind us…
4) Justification can make us feel literally self righteous
5) Avoidance can keep us away forever (bathroom scale)
This just becomes yet another way we are separated by GOD. Another way, that we just make firm the foundation that holds the bars to God’s prison in place. We carry these things like burdens around our neck… and like a friend that we owe money to… we separate ourselves even further from them.
When you are carrying a heavy load that you don’t have to carry… LAY IT DOWN!
Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
WHAT WOULD DAVID DO? WHAT WOULD WE DO? Come the next two weeks and find out!
