WRITTEN BY MICHELE HANSEN
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the Head. (Ephesians 4:15)
I have always been intrigued by the prophets in the Old Testament. I think about what a tough job they had because they were to be the voice of God to the people. Most of the time no one listened or worse yet, had them put to death. (Talk about needing hazardous duty pay!)
In the 12th chapter in the book of 2 Samuel is the account of King David. It’s not a fairy-tale, feel-good story. Like many accounts in the Old Testament, it’s about treachery, lust and murder among other unsavory things. It’s about the disastrous effects of sin. God would send a prophet to confront the Israelites…sometimes they listened, but most of the time they didn’t. Read verses 7-15 to get the official account.
King David is described as a man after God’s own heart. But in this account, he wasn’t guarding his heart, and it took him on a heartbreaking journey.
By the time it was all said and done, King David had slept with a woman who was not his wife, got her pregnant, then had her husband killed to try to cover it up. He thought he was being pretty clever. No one would know; no one except them…and God, that is.
Nathan was a prophet whom King David knew and trusted. God sent Nathan to the King to confront him. (Seriously, I’d be shakin’ in my sandals!)
Did Nathan come right out with the confrontation? No. No, he did not. Nathan told a story. Sometimes God uses creative imagery so we can see what we don’t see.
Nathan told King David about a poor man who had a little ewe lamb. It lived with him and was like a family member to him. One day a rich man had a visitor, but instead of taking one of his own flock to serve for dinner, he took the poor man’s little lamb.
Naturally, the King was very upset and wanted to punish the selfish man for doing such a heinous thing.
Nathan told him, “You, King, are that man.”
Now, Nathan could have lost his head (literally) over a confrontation like that. But David was God’s chosen one, a man whose line God said the Messiah would come from. A humble man. A man who truly desired the will of God. So, he admitted his sin. He didn’t make excuses; he didn’t play the blame game.
We have a saying around here; “You don’t know what you don’t know”. While that can sound like a cop out, it really is true. That’s why God puts people in our lives that we know and trust enough to allow hard things to be said. We all have blind spots.
What we need, as individuals, is to have a heart like David’s. In this instance, to have a repentant heart submitted to the Lord enough to be willing to see ourselves and our stuff when confronted. David wasn’t perfect because, well, obviously…but he was repentant.
God sees our hearts. But sometimes (or a lot of the time) we don’t. (My hand is raised, by the way). That’s why it’s good to have a “Nathan” that we can trust, especially with the hard stuff. It’s not about shaming or guilt tripping; it’s about getting truth and getting free. There is grace and forgiveness in true repentance, but there can also be consequences. Our sin never just affects us. David’s sin affected Bathsheba, Uriah, his army, his reputation, and his children.
Speaking the truth in love is not about calling someone out. It’s about loving someone enough to gently give a “hug of hard words”, for their spiritual health and for the glory of God. We don’t have to beat people over the head to share the difficult words that just may heal their soul.
When we give God permission to search our hearts and bring us truth in the inner parts, sometimes He will use the body of Christ to do that very thing. God works in tandem with the body to bring health to the body.
