Image from medium.com. Painting by Angelika Kaufman
When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, ‘There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meagre fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveller to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.’Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’ Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’ David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan said to David, ‘Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. (2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a)
Dear Friend, I pray this finds you well. May God's blessings be upon you and yours is my prayer. Let me plant a seed of thought in your mind if I could. Every ten years, the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany puts on the world's most famous Passion Play, based on the last days of Jesus' life. The play ws part of a vow they made to God to spare them from the bubonic plaque. God spared them and the play began. The play was last put on in 2010 and will be offered again in 2020. I hope to put together a group to go with Nellie and I to see this play. We've dreamed of seeing this all of our married lives; perhaps we will see it with you and yours in 2020. Please pray about it, and start saving now! More details will follow.
Wednesdays during this season have been on the life of David. We have seen the rise of the boy-king from giant slayer to soldier in hiding, to king, to adulterer and murderer. Last Wednesday we studied the affair he had with Bathsheba and how he tried to cover it up with calling her husband home. Uriah was a faithful, dedicated soldier and refused to go home since his men were not able to do so. David then sent word with Uriah to Joab, the general to put Uriah in the heaviest part of the fighting and then to withdraw so that Uriah might be struck down; and he was. Today we study his day of reckoning.
David's secret sin was known by God, and God sends Nathan the prophet with a story. The story moved David to anger, but Nathan said, "That man is you!" Yikes! And God shares through Nathan that which we know came true; the sword never departed David's house, and the rest of it comes true in the scriptures that follow. But David's sin was forgiven, and it moved David to write some powerful psalms of his lament before the Lord because of his sin.
If you have a secret sin, you pray it is never discovered. If you have a secret sin, you should pray that God remove it from your heart and to cast it in the deepest part of the sea (Micah 7:19) and then read where the last book in the Bible says, "And the sea was no more." (Rev. 21:1). God forgives and forgets our sin. We are the ones who are hardest on ourselves for our failings and mistakes before the Lord. Ours is a faith that urges us to ever move forward and upward. The failings of yesterday ended at midnight if we have shared them with the Lord. Those are removed. Satan does a good job of reminding us of them, but we know the voice of our shepherd and that is the voice we should hear. The journey that is today brings with it enough challenges and opportunities. May we move ever forward holding the hand of Jesus and trusting Him and His voice only.
PRAYER: Loving Father, into Your hands we commit our sins. We thank You for the grace You have that takes those sins away from us and they're placed in an area not meant for visitors. Thank You for that. We look forward to pleasing and serving You this day. We pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Don't go buying scuba gear! That area of the sea can't be reached even by the most sophisticated submarines. Do live a life that shows that God can and does take away our sin!
Eradio Valverde
