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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
After we've seen the Israelites confession as a nation, it's important now that we look at confession from a more personal perspective...and an excellent example of this is found in Psalm 51.
The introduction to this song is very important: "For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." This gives us a great deal of background that we can use to introduce the depth of feeling and emotion of David's confession (we'll look at specifics tomorrow).
The story is told in 2 Samuel 11 & 12. David, after years of running from Saul and living as a fugitive, became King of Israel. He spent years unifying the nation and bringing it back to economic prosperity. David's nation had become a world force and times were good.
So good that the king didn't even bother going out to the battle. He was unconcerned...especially since the military was in seige mode. David gets out of bed and sees a beautiful woman, Bathsheba, bathing. He sent for her despite being warned that she was married.
Now, here's a king who has wives and concubines for the purpose of kingly pleasures and children. His liason with Bathsheba resulted in pregnancy.
David sends for Uriah, the husband who is off at war, asks him how things are going and tells him to go visit his wife. Uriah, the model warrior, mentions that he is at war for God, that his fellow soldiers are at war and that he can't go live and home and sleep with his wife.
David even tried to get him drunk so he'd go home. No dice.
David had him carry a letter to Joab back at the front, telling the general to put Uriah at the front lines and then have the army pull back so Uriah would die. Joab follows orders, David marries Bathsheba after her time of mourning. She bore him a son (who eventually would overthrow David).
But God sent Nathan. A prophet. The prophet had a little story that might ring very close to home to a former shepherd. It's a story about two men. A rich man and a poor man. The poor man has a pet sheep...it even ate at his table and slept in his bed.
A traveler comes to town to visit the rich man. The rich man took the poor man's lamb to fix a dinner for the visitor. His very pet. For dinner.
In 2 Samuel 12, David was livid. Since God is in heaven. This rich man deserves the death penalty! The penalty won't be that severe, but the rich guy must make 4x the restitution, for two reasons: One, because he did it, and two, because he didn't have any compassion!
Then Nathan lowers the boom. David...
...you...
...are...
...the...
...man.
You've despised the Lord by doing evil. You killed a man and took his widow, after you committed adultery with her and she conceived.
In verse 13, David gets the point, "I have sinned against the Lord."
Again, echoes of the Sermon on the Mount: Jesus, talking to the crowd, talks about specks in our neighbor's eyes and logs in our own.
It's so very easy for all of us to see the sin in others...and fail to see in ourselves what others so clearly see.
So, today's "comment" section: Have you ever had a time in your life when you'd failed to see what others saw regarding a sin in your life and the confronted you? What was your immediate emotion? What did you do next?
Brent 4:01 AM
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