Taken Away

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

TAKEN AWAY

2 Sam 12:1-14

12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him." 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." 7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.' 11 "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'" 13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."

NIV

You are the man! That is as direct as it can be. Interestingly, Nathan set up a scenario or an analogy to illustrate what David had done with Uriah and Bathsheba. The Lord was not going to allow this child, who was conceived in that sinful way live. We think from the scriptures that it was a punishment for David, and the Lord was going to bring calamity to the house of David. Surely sin does not go unpunished under the Covenant of the men of the Old Testament. David did confess that he had sinned against the Lord, and Nathan told him, “The Lord has taken away your sin; you are not going to die.” This shows us the mercy of the Lord, His forgiveness, but it also shows us a forerunner, fore shadow of what Jesus did on the cross, taking away our sin. Once again, although we do not commit any heinous sins, we are still plagued with sin in our lives. It could be being prideful, judgmental, or critical of others, envy, jealousy, and that could be of another’s abilities or position, or possessions. This sin of gossip, or as the scripture says, slander, for that is what gossip does, slander someone’s good name. Maybe one of the most difficult to acknowledge is unforgiveness or harboring hurt or ill feelings toward someone. That may be because we think too highly of ourselves, or that we are self-centered, it is all about us. But these are all a secret, as we keep it deep within. Nathan told David that what he did in secret, the Lord would do in broad daylight. When we try to keep our sins a secret, we might fool other people, as we pretend to be righteous, holy, upright, and a “Good Christian”; we can never fool the Lord. Surely he brings to light any of our secret sins, so that we can confess them and receive his grace, his forgiveness. Surely, as Nathan told David, he would not die, we can be assured that as we confess our sin before the Lord, we will not die, for Jesus took our sin away, or actually took our sin upon himself, and paid that price for us. However, that does not give us the right to keep any secret sin within, as we are to rid ourselves of them, and the way we do is to confess them before the Lord, and he will take them away.