Tuesday March 31, 2009 CARING CONFRONTATION
So the LORD sent Nathan to David. Nathan came to him and said, "There were two men in a certain city. One was rich, and the other was poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cows, but the poor man had only one little female lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up in his home with his children. She would eat his food and drink from his cup. She rested in his arms and was like a daughter. "Now, a visitor came to the rich man. The rich man thought it would be a pity to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler. So he took the poor man's lamb and prepared her for the traveler." David burned with anger against the man. "I solemnly swear, as the LORD lives," he said to Nathan, "the man who did this certainly deserves to die! And he must pay back four times the price of the lamb because he did this and had no pity." 2 Samuel 12:1-6 Oh, the wisdom our Father gave to the prophet Nathan in this situation. Talk about the right words at the right time - wow! One thing we need to remember, David had the authority and the power to take Nathan's life for such a confrontation. Oh, by the way the part I didn't include were Nathan's words, "You're the man!" Talk about repentance. David is a wonderful example of heartfelt repentance. He confessed and mourned his wrongs. We have the wonderful outpouring of his heart in Psalm 51 that came from this time of brokenness. It was from this point on that King David became the epitome of a man after God's own heart. Although we may not fall as far or as hard as David did, there will be times that we will fall. It may be something as simple as not loving our neighbor as ourselves, but we will fall. However, when we get alone with the Lord and make our confession of failure, He is faithful to restore us and rebuild our spirit. Proverbs 22:4, 17-19 (NLT) gives a wonderful description of what later happened in the life of our beloved King David. "True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life.Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction. For it is good to keep these sayings deep within yourself, always ready on your lips. I am teaching you today-yes, you-so you will trust in the Lord." Following this heartfelt time of brokenness, confession, and repentance, David went through some horrible times with his children. As we already know, one of his sons raped his daughter and another son gave up on David righting that wrong and rebelled against him and his kingdom. David continued to live a life of falling down and getting back up. That is one of the hallmarks of the Christian life, we fall down, but we always get back up - with His help. Sometimes His help comes through a friend who will love us enough to confront us in our sin. When we operate in His love, we will care enough to confront. Father, I thank You for the friends You have placed in my life who love me enough to confront me when they feel like I am venturing off the path that You have mapped out for me. I also thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit who also does an awesome job convicting me when I am in the wrong. Thank You for caring enough to confront us in our sin. Your loving grace is truly amazing. ******************************************* O. Addison Gethers e-mail address : [email protected] or [email protected] window live messenger: [email protected] aim: durangoadd64 skype: cowboys62 yahoo messenger: OADDISONGETHERS --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DBILG?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
