2
Samuel chapter 12 describes the reaction of a man when he is
confronted with his own sin. Every one of us will stumble; every one
of us will fall short of perfection and in some cases, rebel
completely from honoring God. The key to peace with God is our
reaction at the moment of realization. The chapter begins
immediately after King David had murdered a man to cover his
adulterous relationship with the man’s wife. “The
Lord sent Nathan to David“.
Sometimes God brings people into our lives to help get our attention
and sometimes we hear the voice of His Holy Spirit. He told the King
a story, “There
were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich
man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had
nothing except one little ewe lamb… he raised it, and it grew up
with him and his children… It was like a daughter to him. Now a
traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking
one of his own sheep… to prepare a meal for the traveler…
instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and
prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
David had a powerful reaction to the story, “As
surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die…
because he did such a thing and had no pity“.
With that, Nathan said plainly, “You
are the man!”
There are four common ways people react to their own rebellion:
Blame God, Ignore God, Live in guilt and shame, or Seek His
forgiveness. Only one reaction will lead to peace and restoration.
Next
came the painful probing question that cut to the heart of the
situation; “Why
did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His
eyes?”
Nathan explained, “You
despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own“.
Nathan described the consequences of David’s rebellion and
concluded, “You
did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before
all Israel“.
Note David’s reaction to God and God’s reaction to David. “Then
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not
going to die.”
But the consequences of the sin remain. We cannot change the events
from our past, but we can change our reaction to God’s leading
today.
The
son born to Bathsheba died in spite of David’s pleading to God. He
could have withdrawn emotionally, but instead he reached out to his
grieving wife. “David
got up from the ground. After he had washed… he went into the
house of the Lord and worshiped…
Then
David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with
her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord
loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through
Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah (Meaning
“loved of God”).”
As a demonstration of His complete forgiveness God gave David a son
through Bathsheba that would become king of Israel and more
importantly continue the bloodline to the Messiah. Luke chapter 7
tells of the woman “who
was a sinner“,
washing the feet of Jesus with her tears of repentance. Among all
the important religious leaders she was the only one who knew she was
in need. Jesus boldly proclaimed, “Your
sins are forgiven.”
And He added “Your
faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Are you in need of peace? Peace with God always follows
forgiveness. It is never too late to ask.