Found

January 20th, 2025

Found

2 Samuel 12:1-12

1 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’”

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe once told of a man who murders his neighbor and then buries him under his apartment floor. Authorities show up for a routine interview, not suspecting the man. Yet as the man answers their questions, a pounding sound torments him. He knows it is his victim’s beating heart, just under their feet! The police surely hear it, too. When the sound becomes unbearable, the murderer snaps, confessing his crime. Of course, the investigators never heard a thing; the tell-tale heart was the murder’s conscience.

God Sends

As David lies in bed now, he may well be hearing Uriah’s beating heart. But another heart is also beating in the background of this story. It belongs to Someone who David has been trying his best to ignore. Here in chapter twelve, God barges uninvited back into the story. We tend to think that this famous account is all about David getting caught, condemned, and nailed to the wall. There’s certainly some of that here. But this story is not primarily about condemnation, but restoration. It’s about what God does when someone he loves very much sins very badly, runs very far, and hides very long. It’s about a good shepherd.

David conceals his sin successfully for a year. He maintains a righteous facade by going to church, saying public prayers, and utilizing all the standard God-talk. But as he tries to preserve his little world, David is utterly miserable (see Psalm 32). Like Adam in the Garden, David hides from the One he was made for. But God came to find Adam, and God comes to find David. David did all the “sending” in chapter eleven; now in 12:1 God sends Nathan the prophet, David’s pastor. We expect prophets to confront sin like a SWAT team through the front door. But God takes a different approach here.

"You are the Man"

God wants to find David. But David is so blind, so seared, so insulated from correction, that God accesses his heart through a side door. He uses a story, just as Jesus would later use parables. Nathan tells of a good, poor man, defrauded by an arrogant, rich man. Why? Because God knows that even when I’m blind to my sin, I still have 20/20 vision to see yours. Though David has trampled God’s standard, this story works him up into a self-righteous lather. With absolute moral clarity, David shouts: “this man stole! He murdered! He was cruel! As Yahweh lives, he deserves to die!” Suddenly, David is out of hiding, and into the trap. The jaws close as Nathan says, “You are the man.”

The experience shatters David’s hypocrisy. After avoiding God for so long, he receives God’s unvarnished evaluation of him (7–12). It is so personal: “I gave you everything, and if you’d asked, I’d given you more. Yet you despised me. You acted like you were god.” His Word is so pointed: “you killed Uriah and took his wife.” We rationalize our sin, minimize our sin, spin our sin by putting different labels on it. But God confronts him with the ugly facts. His Word is so very painful (11–12): “You committed evil; now you will get evil. You raised a sword against Uriah’s house, and now it will be turned on your house. You shamed Uriah in private, and now you will be shamed in public.”

Where Every Good Story Begins

But didn’t I say this was about finding the grace of God!? Yes. God orchestrated this whole encounter for one purpose, and that is not to crush David. It is to elicit the response of v13: “I have sinned against Yahweh.” In Hebrew, David just utters two words. He has stopped managing his sin. No more explaining, justifying, blame-shifting, manipulating. He simply owns his sin. He has been un-deceived: I’m not God; I’m a sinner before God. Painful as it is, this is where every good story begins. Has God ever come to find you like this?

FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT, SEE:

Grace to Go Forward