People very often find it much easier to find faults in others, rather than themselves. They tend to blame other people for problems instead of shouldering some of the responsibility. Even when innocently pointing out something wrong to somebody, the other person may have a tendency to feel accused. Today we are going to look inward a bit, to see our own faults and shortfalls.
2 Samuel 12:1-14
1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
Nathan came to David and described a terrible sin that a man had committed against his fellow man. David was outraged. This man was bad! He did very bad things and should pay the consequences! He should die! How dare he wrong his neighbor in such an insensitive way? How dare he do such a wrong act as if nothing was wrong? Then Nathan stopped David and said, “You are the man!”
We hear lots of preaching and lessons that teach us all about who God is and how sin contrasts His holiness. I think it is so easy to sit back and say, “This is bad. That is bad.” I can even look around and say, “Hey, that person's life is messed up. This person has fallen away from God and is living in sin. That person is doing some really bad stuff. This person is living a lie.” They are sinners. They are bad. They, they, they.
It's not them; it's me. David responded, “I have sinned against the Lord!” David seemed like a pretty good guy, but he had lust in his heart. He even acted on that lust and people still saw a good guy because nobody knew. Then he had a guy killed so he could take his wife. Is there a hidden sin in your heart? Is there a hidden sin in my heart? Sometimes I think it takes a situation to happen where we act out a sin that we had forgotten as it was hidden in our hearts before we realize: wow, it's not them; it's me. Please, let us pray that God will show us our hidden sins and let us come to repentance. Yes, people need to hear about sin and we need to reach out to them and preach evangelistic messages, but first, I need to see that I am the man. God, cleanse my heart and let it be free of sins so that I might be used by you to reach others.
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