Nathan and David

Bible Passage:  2 Sam 12:1-9

Have you ever experienced being asked to speak to someone to let the person know that he/she is doing something that he/she should not be doing or to tell someone to acknowledge his fault?

I’m sure parents, teachers and counselors will have such experience.

It is often not easy to tell someone his fault and to get him to acknowledge it. It is even more difficult to tell a person who is of a higher standing among others.

Nathan is commanded by God here to tell the king of Israel that he has sinned against God. Nathan started by telling David a story, and by David’s sense of justice he had announced the sin upon himself. Do you think God had given Nathan the story? Or do you think Nathan thought hard about it to find the way to say it to David?

I think it was after God gave Nathan the mission that he thought about how to let David realise his own sin through invoking his sense of justice in the story. I found on the internet someone who analyzed Nathan’s approach that showed his wisdom (http://terryfrancis.wordpress.com/)

–          Nathan used David’s experience as a shepherd (2 Sam 12:3-4)

–          Nathan appealed to David’s wisdom and judgment (2 Sam 12:1-6)

–          Nathan appealed to David’s knowledge of the Law (the 10^th commandment; Exo 22:1)

This reminds me of Jesus who often spoke in parables, which brings His teachings across in a subtle yet definite way, while giving his enemies no ground to catch Him.

Many of us are afraid to preach to our friends and even more so to strangers, because at some point of time we need to tell them that they need to change and follow the path we are on. Who are we to tell a man more experienced in life than we are, that we know better? It is definitely not easy to bring across a message of change, especially to older people.

Almost every time after leaving a door while going door to door evangelizing, I would ask myself if there was a better way to continue the conversation and to bring the message of the gospel across. Some of us are happy just as long as we manage to speak a few more sentences at the door, but I feel that until a point which we have pointed the person to Christ Jesus or the church of God, we are merely any other person who knocks at people’s doors now and then, leaving no impression that the kingdom of God has come near.

Not everyone has the gift of the gab to be able to speak in analogies and stories, but we can make a point to remember some useful ones when we talk to friends. Also I believe we should always think of ways to speak words of truth seasoned with salt. I feel that if we put in effort to try to speak the words of God with grace, God will give us the right words at the right time.

Personally I have a reputation of being very forthright, perhaps too much. Believe me, I do make a lot of effort to think of how to say things; I do try very hard to say what I want to say in ways easier to swallow, especially hard truths. But sometimes we have to acknowledge that a lot of times – the truth hurts, especially in these last days. And as much as we do not wish to hurt, we need to bring out the truth, and the sheep of God will listen to His voice and repent, while the hard-hearted will be condemned.

May God help us have the courage of Nathan as well as the wisdom, that we are able to speak the truth of God with tact and power.