David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan:  “As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”
Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD 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, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife-you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword. Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife.
2 Samuel 12:5-10 HCSB

Nathan was God’s prophet and David’s advisor. David was on the top of the world so to speak and when he looked down and saw a beautiful woman bathing, he decided he must have her for his own. He found she was the wife of Uriah who was off fighting in his army, but he didn’t let that stop him. He had relations with her, she became pregnant and then he was in a bit of a pickle. He arranged for Uriah to come home hoping Uriah would have relations with her and think the child was his, but Uriah was a dedicated soldier so this plan failed. He then had Uriah killed in war. Adultery and then murder to cover the sin of adultery. David was a busy man.

Nathan went to David and told him a parable about a rich man who stole a poor man’s pet lamb and slaughtered it to feed to his guest. David thought this was despicable and declared that this rich man must die. But then Nathan let him know that this parable was about him. David was the rich man who stole the poor man’s pet lamb. David could have had any single woman he wanted, but he chose Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. This infuriated God because God had given David his love and protection. He helped him slay Goliath, He anointed him king, he protected him when Saul wanted to kill him, he made him a great and mighty warrior. But all this wasn’t enough. David just had to have another man’s wife.

But the interesting thing here is that David got so deep into his sin, he didn’t even realize Nathan was talking about him in this parable. He didn’t even see a parallel to what he had done and what this other man had done. When we get boggled down in sin, we don’t see it, hear it, smell it or taste it. We can easily see the wrong others do, but we put blinders on to our own indiscretions. Sadly, God sees it very clearly and does not allow the wicked to go unpunished (Proverbs 11:21).  David had been described as a man after God’s own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22, but even he must suffer the consequences of his sin. God told him the sword would never leave his household. The son that Bathsheba bore for David would get sick and die. His son would rape his daughter. Another son would kill that one. His own son would try to kill him. David repented and God forgave him but he still had to suffer the consequences.

Do you have sin in your life that you just don’t see? Stop and take a minute to think about this. Are you not honoring God in the way you live your life and the words you say? Know that you may have put blinders on, but God has not. He sees your sin and He will punish you accordingly. Psalm 51 is David’s cry for repentance and mercy and restoration from God. In Psalm 139:23-24, David says, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.”

If you are thinking about all the sin in the world and all the horrible things other people are doing. Stop. Take a minute to look at your own life and ask God to forgive your sin and remove it from you. In Matthew 7:5 Jesus says, “Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

When you find yourself pointing a finger, look at the four pointing back at you, as my pastor likes to say. Maybe it’s you they speak of in the parable, just sayin’.

Have a great day!