Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
How do you feel when you witness JUSTICE being served? Perhaps it’s a criminal finally caught and found guilty by jury and sentenced to a well-deserved punishment. Perhaps it is corruption in leadership and finally they are removed from their authority.
Do you know JUSTICE is one of God’s great attributes and here’s a powerful Biblical statement that should call all of us to serious consideration: “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must all give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
About 1000 years before that was written, King David discovered this powerful statement to be embarrassingly, painfully, shamefully true, as we will see today. I left you yesterday with King David having taken widow Bathsheba to be his wife. For several months they lived, we presume, a fairly normal life as Bathsheba’s pregnancy progressed. As far as we know this was her first child. There is no record that anyone questioned either their marriage or her pregnancy. The child was born, and I am confident David was enjoying the delight of a newborn in his palace, confident his deception and sin was unknown to everyone.
But deep in his soul I believe David was grieving the illegitimacy of this child and his marriage. The prophet Nathan was David’s spiritual advisor, and you may recall we looked closely at 2 Samuel 7 in which Nathan had been sent by God to King David in response to David’s inquiry if he should follow through on his desire to build a great Temple for God. I believe that discussion between King David and the prophet Nathan was probably several years ago and now in 2 Samuel 12 God sends the prophet Nathan once again to King David and this encounter is very different from the last one.
2 Samuel 12 tells us that one day Nathan showed up at the palace, without an appointment but having been sent by God to King David on a confrontational mission. I have no doubt Nathan had not slept the night before and his stomach was all tied up in knots as he walked into the palace that day. Nathan would have given anything to NOT say to King David what he was convinced God had shown him about David and God demanded Nathan speak exactly what God had given him to speak, even if it might mean his death! Wisely, Nathan told a story to King David about a rich man and a poor man and how the rich man took advantage of the poor man, taking the poor man’s only lamb and sacrificing it for a meal the rich man wanted to provide a traveling friend. I urge you to listen to it through the Dramatic Audio Bible at the conclusion of today’s “WWJ”.
As David listened his blood pressure was rising for the story Nathan told was so unfair, justice must certainly be done! In fact, the record says: “David burned with anger…and said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’ (2 Samuel 12:5,6) David had raised up off his throne and pounded his fist down on the table. Justice must be served in the kingdom of God’s people! David had shouted the words he spoke to Nathan and his face was flushed with anger.
Nathan paused, gathering all his courage, then Nathan pointed right at King David and with God given courage Nathan said to the King: “You are that 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… 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 you took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of battle and now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised ME and took the wife of Uriah to be your own.” (2 Samuel 12:7-10)
Look at King David now. The color has flushed out of his face, he is stumbling backward collapsing on his throne. He can’t look at Nathan, so he looks away, tears welling up in his eyes. Suddenly David’s whole world, his big deception, has come crashing down upon him. His mind cannot process the scope of the damage his sin has done to his relationship with God, his reputation, and his royal legacy.
Nathan takes a few steps toward King David slouched on his throne, now his face in his hands. Nathan must continue for God has given him more to say: “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. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.” (2 Samuel 12:11,12)
David raises his head out of his hands, tears streaming down his face, Nathan’s words echoing through his mind and piercing his heart. Wave after wave of deep remorse, deep shame and grief pour over David as he ponders the power and judgment of these words. One word is pounding in David’s heart and head: JUSTICE! God’s justice is being poured out on the man God loves, the man God had called to lead His people, the man God had protected in battle and anointed for leadership.
A second word now began pounding in David’s heart and head: FAILURE! David had failed… David had failed his father Jesse, his grandfather Obed, his brothers, all of his family. When they would hear of this, they would turn away in shame. David had failed his hometown Bethlehem and David wondered what could ever be done to remove the scourge, the shame which would now hang over that town.
David had failed Nathan, his spiritual advisor and all those who served in the various leadership roles in Israel. David had failed Joab, his army commander, and Uriah, one of his faithful, honorable soldiers. David had miserably, terribly failed Bathsheba. I wonder if Deuteronomy 22:22 rose up in David’s heart: “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.” Oh my! David had brought the vilest of evil into the palace, into the “City of David”. David had defiled the presence of God at the Ark of the Covenant which was worshipped at a tent pitched close to the palace. I am confident David began to realize that he deserved death and public death which would purge the evil from Israel.
By now I imagine David has removed himself from his throne and is lying prostrate on the floor before Nathan. David knows he has disqualified himself from ever sitting on that throne again. He has disqualified himself from serving one more day, one more hour as king over the people of Israel. Finally, David gasps and raises his voice to Nathan and to God: “I have sinned against the LORD!” (2 Samuel 12:13) It’s all David could say. Overwhelmed in his shame, his guilt, his despair David broke and began to sob as the horrificness of his sin broke before him like a volcano.
Let’s pause right here friends and just watch a broken King David cry in his shame. I have no doubt his cry could be heard throughout the palace. Nathan alone was in the throne room with David and all Nathan could do was watch and wait. Nathan had more to say, but for now, Justice was being served as the Holy Spirit of God deeply convicted David of his miserable sin. His horrible failure. His shattering of the wonderful relationship David and God had enjoyed for so many years.
I found a song to help us reflect on this terrible moment in David’s life, what is God saying to you and me in this moment, my friends, as we worship with this song?
Today’s Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1-13.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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