You Are The Man!

“And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity.’ Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!’” —2 Samuel 12:4-6

David had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite, killed to cover his own sin.  Apparently David had reconciled his actions in his eyes.  But it does not matter how justified we might think we are, sin is sin. God confronted David through the prophet Nathan. It was in the face of that confrontation that David snapped out of his delusion that his heart was right before God. Apparently he was in the habit of sinning and then moving on with God – or not.  It was after that confrontation that David wrote Psalm 51.  “Create in me a clean heart o’ God and renew a right spirit in me.”

It is so easy to ignore our own sin and condemn the sin in others.  In psychology the term is “projection”. Psychological projection is a defense mechanism in which the ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities by denying their existence in themselves by attributing them to others. Jesus addressed our proclivity to deny our own sin.

“Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” – Matthew 7:4-5

We are so quick to judge others for the wrong they do, and ever so slow to repent from our own sins. We may not have a prophet like Nathan to confront us, but we do have the Spirit of God and the Word of God and people of God who can speak Truth to us.  What can keep us from repenting like David did? It might be guilt. Perhaps a lack of faith. Or worse still – a hardened heart.  There is a saying that when I point a finger at you, there are three pointing back at me. We need to spend less time applying self-righteous judgement toward others, and more time drawing close to God seeking His grace, mercy and restoration.

Read Psalm 51 and then make it your own prayer to God. Listen – we all struggle with sin.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” – 1 John 1:8-10

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone