Tuesday, June 12, 2012

"You are the man!" or maybe You are the woman?


Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds.  But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.  And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."


 So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!  And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."


 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!" 2 Samuel 12: 1-7 (NKJV)

Quick. David was quick to be judge, jury and in this case, executioner. I can just imagine the expression on his face when Nathan told him he was the man in the story. Righteous indignation quickly became recognition of guilt.

Have you ever been the woman in the story? Quick to make a judgment only to realize you are or have been in fact guilty yourself?

Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men-extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers-or even like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain. But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am!  I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18:9-14 (AMP)

David, Bathsheba and their baby all suffered painful consequences. But even in that, God is good. He would cease to be good if He were not also just. Amen?

There but for the grace of God go any one of us. Be careful. God judges, but He is also merciful.

Dina Seaton
Marketing Assistant, Staff Writer

No comments: