Neville Turley

“I have sinned against theLord,” David said.  Nathan replied, “TheLordforgives you; you will not die.”  2 Samuel 12:13 (GNT)

Nathan, the prophet to King David, had a serious problem. God was leading him to confront the King and bring him to his senses regarding the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 

David had committed adultery with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. When he could not find a way to conceal what they had done, he arranged for Uriah to be killed and then married Bathsheba.

Now David was an absolute monarch, a warrior King with a volatile temper.  He held the power of life and death over all his subjects including Nathan. Yet Nathan, being a prophet of God, had no choice but to boldly face the king and reprove him. David needed to be put right with God and begin life with a clean slate.

Nathan, in an audience with the king, related the parable of the “Ewe Lamb”. “There were two men”, he said, “one very rich with many flocks and herds and one very poor with nothing but a little ewe lamb that he himself had hand-reared.

The rich man was hosting a traveller.  Rather than slaughtering one of his many sheep, he took the poor man’s ewe and killed it for a meal. 

King David was furious, “the man deserves to die” he ranted.  “I will make him restore the lamb fourfold because he was merciless.”  Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man.  Look how richly God has blessed you, yet look how you treated Uriah.”  David realised what he had done and said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

We may not be guilty of the same sins as King David, but we need to recognise we too are sinners and will bear the consequences. There will come a time when the words of Nathan – “You are that person” will also pierce our own hearts. Then we will need to confess our sins before God, as David did.  (Psalm 51)

Prayer: Almighty God you do not desire the death of a sinner but that they turn to you with a humble, penitent heart. Forgive us our sins for which we are truly sorry.  This we ask for Jesus sake.  Amen.