Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Apr 11th, 2023 A Friend Like Nathan by Michael Garner

Today’s Passage – 2 Samuel 12 – 14 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – Matthew 21 – 22; Proverbs 11; Psalms 51 – 55)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 47:1

Read the “0411 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from this passage – “The Consequences of Sin”

“1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. 13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. 15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.” (2 Samuel 12:1-15)

In this passage, we read of Nathan confronting David after he commits adultery with Bathsheba and kills Uriah the Hittite.

Nathan begins to tell David a story of a rich man stealing a poor man’s only lamb to help himself from a wayfaring man. David would get angry at this man and would think of ways to punish him. But when he asked who it was, Nathan would reveal to David that he was talking about David! The Lord had sent Nathan to deliver a message. The Lord was very upset with David and his recent actions. The Lord would tell David all he would do as punishment. David would realize what he had done and confess his sin. Nathan would be there to comfort him but also tell him the truth. He would tell him that he wouldn’t die and the Lord would forgive him but he would still face punishment because of his sin.

In this story, we can learn a couple of things about Nathan.

• Nathan Was Close (vs. 1) – the Lord and sent Nathan as a messenger to deliver His message to David. He was chosen by God to speak to David.

• Nathan Was Confrontational (vs. 2 – 12) Nathan didn’t back down from David and said what needed to be said. It was probably though telling David the punishment that he was going to receive, but it was needed.

• Nathan Was a Comforter (vs. 13) – after all God had told to David about his punishment, Nathan would comfort David in telling him that God would forgive him and not kill him.

• Nathan Was Consistent (vs. 14 – 15) – even though we has comforting David, he didn’t let go of the fact he had sinned and that God was still going to have to punish him.

Two takeaways we can learn from this story of Nathan

• HAVE a Friend Like Nathan- we must have friends that are close withGod. Friends that will notice when we messed up and need to be confronted. Friends that do this not because they want to, but because the care for us and don’t want us to sin. A great friend will tell you the truth, even if it hurts.

• BE a Friend Like Nathan- we must be this to someone. We must tell people the truth, when if it hurts. We must be that friend that is close to God to show them what God wants them to do. If you love them, you’ll tell the truth!