SAVED – by a story
06 May 2020
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-14
Key verse v 13 ‘Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.’
I promise this is the last in this series, as we continue with the thought that everyone longs to hear a story. I would suggest that God has built this desire into our very being it is our nature, not just to listen to but also to tell stories.
CS Lewis who was greatly inspired by the JRR Tolkien said “Man is a story telling animal. Therefore God has given him a story to live.” So stories of the orphan who sets out on a journey and battles with temptation, see through false disguises defeats evil with good. The find out that they are not orphans at all but are the son or daughter of a King – all of this ring bells in our imagination. That is the story.
In the passage given today we have read that God care for us all and even though we stray from the path will provide the way for us to return. The passage shows how David was saved from the sin he committed through adultery with Bathsheba and he was saved by a story. You see God knows us all intimately and knows exactly what is needed to turn us around to give us the opportunity to repent and follow Him. So in David’s case it was probably the only way he could be saved. God sent Nathan with a simple story about a rich man who had large flocks but stole from a poor man his one little sheep and killed it. David the man of God who was blinded by lust and ensured that Uriah was put in to a position where he could not escape being killed was so moved by this story and had so deceived himself that he could not see in the story any application to himself that almost before the story had ended burst out angrily “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die.” (v 5). Do these words ring true they do in my own heart for many times I have sinned and the prompting of the Lord and those three simple words of challenge given by Nathan “YOU ARE THAT MAN” so quickly exposes the lie that was hidden in my heart and the heart of David. Remember we very rarely fall ourselves more often than note we take others with us. David in his instructions to ensure Uriah was put at the front of the battle caused his commanders to sin. So may we never be so self-deceived that we become blind to what our actions and thoughts are doing to our walk and growth with Christ.
God will always shine a light on our sin and how we react to that shows just where we are in our growth with Him, we can ignore the prodding and continue and in so doing miss out on the tremendous blessings that God wants to give us. Or like David we can acknowledge our sin seek forgiveness, learn from it and grow closer to our living, loving Saviour who shed his blood for us that we might be saved.