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2 Samuel 12:1-4 – God’s Word Confronts

In the first verse of chapter 12, after all the scheming and sending and deception, God is the one who sends. That’s good news. It’s good news because it tells us that God won’t allow his servants to remain comfortable in their sin, but will expose it, lest they settle down in it. You may succeed in your unfaithfulness. But in his grace the LORD will come after you. God doesn’t wash his hands of his unfaithful servants. He didn’t do it to Jonah. He didn’t do it to Peter. And he doesn’t do it to David here. That’s not to say that God’s pursuit of us is pleasant. Far from it. At the time, we’d rather he just left us in our sin. But where would we be if he did that? How terrible would it be if we succeeded at sin, and God just left us to it. That wouldn’t be grace, that would be judgement. Romans 1 tells us that for God to give us up to the lusts of our hearts is actually his judgement. So for there to be a day of reckoning on this earth, where we’re given the opportunity to face up to our sin – that’s actually his grace. Of course it’s still up to us to respond rightly to that. But if we’re given the opportunity to do so, the reason for it is God’s kindness. So what might a similar day of reckoning look like for us? Well it probably won’t be as dramatic as it was for David. But the basic elements will be the same. At the heart of it, what God does is send his word to David. That’s Nathan’s role as a prophet. He’s someone who brings God’s word. And as he does so, David’s sin is exposed.

As Nathan goes to David, he’s both brave and clever. For a start, he’s brave. He’s going to the most powerful man in the kingdom to call him out for his sin. Nathan knows that David has killed Uriah. And if David didn’t think twice about killing a soldier, what’s to say he won’t turn round and do the same to Nathan? So he’s brave in answering God’s call to go about confronting David. But he’s also clever in how he goes about it. Why does Nathan tell David a story, a parable, rather than just coming out with it? It’s because we often don’t react well to a full-on confrontation. Our instinctive response is defensiveness and self-justification. So instead Nathan tells David a parable.

Question

  1. Why is it good that God confronts us in our sin?

Prayer Points

  1. Give thanks that God’s Word reveals our sin.
  2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
  3. Pray for family matters.