May 15, 2014 - Thursday

Start Time: 9:35 A.M.

End Time: 10:04 A.M.

Title: Nathan Rebukes David

Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1 – 31

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.  The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,  but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.  “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.  I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

NOTES:

Ø God will always tell us what we did wrong to give us an opportunity to come to Him to make it right!  When David made a mistake and thought that he got away with it without others knowing, Nathan came to him to tell him about what he did wrong.  God is the same in our lives.  He will always find a way to tell us our mistakes and gives us the chance to make it right by humbling down before Him and asking Him for His forgiveness.  What a wonderful God we have!  He is the One who finds a way to make sure He will make it right for us by reminding us our mistakes and allowing us to come to Him in forgiveness.  Thank You Lord.

→ Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.  But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for^[a] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”  After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth^[b] on the ground.  The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”

NOTES:

Ø God’s love for us is greater than the sin we committed because though the Devil tempted David for the hopes of tarnishing David and ultimately removing God’s favor upon Him, it didn’t work for God removed his sin instead!  Hallelujah!  God removed our sins away like what he did with David and He removed David’s sin the moment David realized his mistakes.  At times, we may not know it but God already erased our sins even before we asked to have it erased.  That’s how great our God is.  He doesn’t want sin or evil in us.  He cleanse us immediately after realizing our mistakes.  To God be the glory!

Ø God loves us so much but the punishment of sin is still death! Though God removed david’s sin, during this time, Jesus had not come to save the world from sins yet, so the punishment or the corresponding result of David’s action will still have to take place and his son died for it.  David tried his best to plead and ask God to heal his son yet, his son still died. 

→ Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.

NOTES:

Ø God does not dwell in the past or the negative, when troubles come, He focuses on the positive and so should we!  David after the death of his son, continued to live.  He ate and dressed up and acted as a king again, which brought confusion to his servants.  He explained well.  There’s not much he can do because his son is already dead, so life goes on.  We should have the same positive outlook.  We can never move on if we just continually focus on what we CANT do or what we don’t have control of, focus on what we CAN do and focus our hope in Christ! 

→ Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.  So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it.David took the crown from their king’s^[d] head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent^[e] of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking.^[f] David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.

NOTES:

Ø God gave David the chance to come back and be with His people, fighting God’s battle, and gave the victory to him after he realized his mistake!  After David realized what he did wrong, God gave him the chance to make it right.  He was supposed to be fighting the battle of His people and so David went to the battle and got the crown himself, again with God by His side.  It was his decision not to fight the battle that brought him to get tempted in the 1^st place, so God made sure he had the chance to redeem himself by making the right decision this time.  And God will do the same for us.  Thank You Lord!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus thank You because You are the God of 2^nd chances and You will always find a way to show us our mistakes and give us the opportunity to come to You and ask for forgiveness so You can make things right in our lives again.  Thank You Lord for all the length You have to go through to fix what we have broken.  And thank You because You love for us is everlasting and bigger than our mistakes.  Lord help me to focus on You always in times when I cant seem to handle things on my own, which is most of the time.  Help me to be like David who understands when to top mourning and live life by focusing on the positive always.  Thank You Lord for the chance of restoring me.  Thank You because the moment we realized our mistakes, You have already removed it and You have set us to redeem ourselves by making the right decisions this time with You help and guide.  I love You Jesus.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!