Question of the Day: Can you share a time when you were over come with the desire to praise God?
Happy Sabbath. This week we continue with the aftermath of the roof top sin. The last chapter ended with the statement that God was displeased with the thing that David had done. So what happens now. What happens when God is upset at us for what we have done? What then.
Have you ever experienced a time when you know God was displeased with you? I have!
I think it is interesting to note that it has been sometime since the previous chapter. We know this because in this chapter we see that the baby has been born. We don't know how old it is, however this was not immediately after. Sometime has passed. With that in mind let's read.
We will read the entire story.
READ: 2 Samuel 12
Nathan Rebukes David
12 The Lord sent Nathan to David.
I think it is important to note a few things.
1. Sometime had passed. God gave David sometime to sit in the mess he had created. He gave him sometime to repent and come to Him. This was not a good time for David. Beth Moore refers to this as "sin sickness." It is the horrible state we find ourselves in when we have sinned and yet do not come to Christ with repentance. In Psalms 32:3,4 David speaks to this sickness
"When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer."
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer."
2. After sometime has passed, God sends Nathan to David. We need to be careful and make sure that when we go to people, or if we do that it is God sending us. This time was important. If well intentioned people or leaders or Nathan had gone to David before God asked it may have not had the impact.
3. God sent someone to David. He went toward David. I know that the times I have been sitting in my sin, unwilling to confess and come to Christ, I have felt like God was so far away. This past week a high school classmate posted on Facebook that she wished God had not left her. I am sure that is also how David felt but here we see that God had not only not left David but when David did not come to God, God went to him. God wants to be in relationship with you. He yearns for you to come to him. He has the solution! He has the cure! He has the healing!
Let's continue reading in verse 1...
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 must 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 all 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 on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
Wow what a story! This story highlights the power of illustration. The power of using stories to drive home points! Would there have been the same conviction in Davids heart had Nathan just come to him and told him he had sinned? Another layer of this point, is how powerful this story is for us!
Also, I find it interesting that Nathan lists all the blessings that David has and reminding him that these were all gifts from God.
We always... ALWAYS fall when we start forgetting where the blessings come from! God had given David so much. Victories, wealth, wives, children, the allegiance of all the tribes,...etc...etc. Yet he had forgotten, that this was not of his own making but they were all blessings from God! It was His power that it was all given to him, and isn't it interesting that God says, "And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more." Wow seriously! How is that for a gut punch!
It is also important to note that the way this was done.... the story....David has such a strong reaction! He is ready to kill the man. Beth Moore writes, "Have you ever noticed how the further we wander outside of God's will, the more we judge others and the less we show mercy?"
The guilt of David is so palatable in his disdain for the man in the story.
It was important for God to help David see that what he deserved was death. It is important for each of us to understand that what we deserve is death!
Why is it important?
What happens to the heart of someone who knows they deserve death and are given life?
This past week I was reminded of a time in my life when I was struggling with depression. In the time over and over again I was failing as a mother and a wife! I remember one day in particular when Chris came home and the house was a disaster. The kids weren't dressed, all three wearing diapers that needed changing. I immediately tried to engage with Chris in hopes that if I was nice enough, etc. that maybe he wouldn't notice how much of a disaster I was. He gave me a brief peck on the cheek and headed into the bedroom to change. I felt this over whelming sense of shame and guilt. I had failed him, failed my children, and he wasn't even giving me a change to make it up. I sat there is self pity and tried to breath through the crushing weight on my chest. It was miserable. I tried to tell myself to get up and rush around while he changed and make a difference. I kept hearing the voices of books I had read while we were engaged telling that to be a good wife, I needed to make sure home was this idyllic place when he returned home from work. Even with the voices in my head and the shame, I felt paralyzed on that couch. So I just sat there, my hair was a mess, I hadn't showered, my outfit was pajamas still.... Then he came out of the room, took my hand and walked me into the bed room, then past the bed and into the bathroom where he had drawn a bath. It was filled with bubbles and there was a candle lit on the sink. He told me to spend as much time as I needed soaking, and that he would bring me supper later. He told me not to leave the room but just to relax. He would take care of the kids. I started to argue but I could tell this was one of those times when he wouldn't let me... so ...I got in the tub and wept. I had just received grace! This story wouldn't not have had the impact on my life that it did, if Chris and done all this after he came home to a beautiful home, with the lovely smells of dinner wafting through the house, and his three children dressed with shoes and socks on and a wife who was casual but well groomed and put together. If I had felt, deserving of this hug act of kindness, it wouldn't have had the same impact. It was important for David to understand how undeserving he was of what God was getting ready to say to him.
David had started to think he was quite something! It was that attitude that contributed to his downfall. This story and his exclamation of the mans guilt, helped to strip the walls of his own greatness and exposed his sin. It opened his heart exposing it in all it's ugliness.... then God continued.....
13 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. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[a]the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
Can you imagine. For a second you are over whelmed with the grace, the statement that the Lord has taken away your sin.... You can't imagine it and then the BUT.... "But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die."
I don't know about you but when I see my kids hurting, even when they are hurting and it is their own fault, I want to take it away and to hurt in their place. Sarah has a strong phobia of needles. There have been times in her young little girl years when I would have done anything to have the shots myself.... I hated seeing her go through the pain and struggle! I can't imagine the pain of knowing that what I had done, because of my sin, my child was going to die. Wow....
Here in 2 Samuel, David doesn't say much. I think we must read Psalms 52. In this Psalm we see Davids heart. What he was feeling and experiencing.
Psalm 51[a]
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
This psalm I am sure he sang over and over. With this in mind let's continue on.
15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth[b] on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
What a story.
1. David pleaded, fasted, begged, God for the life of his son. I am sure he pleaded for it to be him instead of his son. I am sure this was a time when Psalms 51 was sung over and over to God. For 7 days he agonized.
2. In the midst of his grief he got up and praised God. Last week I have heard many talk about the beautiful words that Ken Fords daughters said at their Fathers funeral. How they had such strength as they so lovingly spoke of their father. It is because they were able to praise God. Praise God for the gift of their dad. David needed to praise God! I will never forget the time I first HEARD the words of the song, "Blessed be your name." I had sung the song many times, but the first time I really HEARD the words was when it was being sung at the funeral of a young boy. He was a twin, and there sat his parents and his sister and his twin brother singing,
"Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out, I'll
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out I'll
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Can't you hear David singing it too?
3. David comforted and made love to Bathsheba, resulting in a son that God loved very much. It is a beautiful illustration how God, in his great love for us will let us reap the consequences of our sin, but it isn't something the goes on and on for ever and ever. Bathsheba becomes not only a mother again, but is loved by David and their son is the future King. She wasn't forever shamed. She wasn't the forgotten wife, with the stain of the sin that brought her to David. She and her son, are not only found if David's favor but in God's too! So much so that God wants to name him and sends Nathan to tell them that he is Jedidiah. Jedidiah means beloved of the Lord, friend of the Lord, beloved of Jehovah.
I know that for each of us God has a name for you too! What is his name for you?
Let's finish this chapter...
26 Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. 27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. 28 Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.”
29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. 30 David took the crown from their king’s[d] head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent[e] of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city 31 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brick making.[f] David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.
Here we that in the mean time, between comforting Bathsheba and the birth of Solomon, David was getting back to work. He was once again letting God use him, and God was with him.
This is quite a chapter. We see the realization of Davids great guilt. We see the beauty of God's magnificent grace, while the consequences still bring great sorrow. We see the importance and of wrestling with God, pleading with God. We see the result of a reconciled heart to God, praising Him no matter the situation! We see God's loving-kindness toward His children.
This is powerful story. A story we can find ourselves in.
I don't know what each of our stories are, but I do know this....
I know that our God loves you! Even when you have displeased him! He loves you! He will come after you! He do what he needs to do for you to understand your need of Him! He will take you to a place of understanding so that He can do a great work in you! If we are willing to let God do his work in us....
There is comfort and new beginnings! He doesn't shame you and make you sit in your regret! If we will bring our brokenness to him...Oh what he is willing to do!
I would like us to read once again Psalm 51. Is this your cry?
Psalm 51
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[b] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
18 May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
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