A King Rebuked

As time passed on, David’s sin toward Bathsheba became known, and suspicion was excited that he had planned the death of Uriah. The Lord was dishonored. He had favored and exalted David, and David’s sin misrepresented the character of God and cast reproach upon His name. It tended to lower the standard of godliness in Israel, to lessen in many minds the abhorrence of sin; while those who did not love and fear God were by it emboldened in transgression.

Nathan the prophet was bidden to bear a message of reproof to David. It was a message terrible in its severity. To few sovereigns could such a reproof be given but at the price of certain death to the reprover. Nathan delivered the divine sentence unflinchingly, yet with such heaven-born wisdom as to engage the sympathies of the king, to arouse his conscience, and to call from his lips the sentence of death upon himself….

The guilty may attempt, as David had done, to conceal their crime from men; they may seek to bury the evil deed forever from human sight or knowledge; but “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13).38Ibid., 720, 721.

The prophet Nathan’s parable of the ewe lamb, given to King David, may be studied by all…. While he was following his course of self-indulgence and commandment breaking, the parable of a rich man who took from a poor man his one ewe lamb, was presented before him. But the king was so completely wrapped in his garments of sin, that he did not see that he was the sinner. He fell into the trap, and … passed his sentence upon another man, as he supposed, condemning him to death….

This experience was most painful to David, but it was most beneficial. But for the mirror which Nathan held up before him, in which he so clearly recognized his own likeness, he would have gone on unconvicted of his heinous sin, and would have been ruined. The conviction of his guilt was the saving of his soul. He saw himself in another light, as the Lord saw him, and as long as he lived he repented of his sin.39The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 2:1023.
Conflict and Courage p. 179
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-My friend cannot sleep for days after days. Please PRAY GOD will help and let her sleep again. Shannon
—-Please pray for a Muslim friend from a Muslim country. Cannot explain anything to protect his identity and the situation. Pray for his understanding of Biblical truth that he is seeking and his protection. He was arrested this past Sabbath for his advocacy and activism for the poor and disadvantaged and exposing crime in high places. He is facing the judge in court now. Linda
—-Please pray that God will supply all of E and her children’s needs. R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
As a teen, I had wanted to become an archaeologist, but with my allergies that was an impossible dream. I still watch many archeology programs though. I think of one program that I watched years ago that left me feeling upset and dissatisfied. In that program, a group of Egyptologists were going to visit a pyramid which had been demolished. The previews of the program gave the impression that it was the first time someone was going to go into its inner chambers. In my mind, I thought of all the wonderful items they would show us.
In reality, the pyramid had been ransacked long before. All that was there was the underground chambers now exposed to the elements. Most of the great stones had been carried away by the Romans and some by men of the nineteenth century. There were no artifacts left. Basically, they took what should have taken about twenty minutes to tell and stretched it into two hours. Yet, they did it in such a way that I kept anticipating something spectacular at the end. It never came. It left me feeling cheated and upset with myself for wasting two hours.
How much like the promises of this world. There are allurements on every side, but they leave us feeling empty, cheated, disillusioned. Jesus declares, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Luke 16:13 How very true. We may try to have the best of both worlds, but in the end, we find that we have lost everything. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36
John tells us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 2:15-17; 5:4
May we “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Rom 12:2 May we shun the allurements of this world and say with Paul, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Phil 3:8 May we “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” is my prayer. (vs 14)
Rose