Caught red handed.
Children can be funny.
If you have children, there is likely a time that your kids got into something they shouldn't have.
I'm sure I did, my brothers and sisters certainly did, my son did as well.
There was a time when he was only a toddler, that he got into a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups.
The evidence was all over his face and his hands.
And yet, he still denied it all.
"Ah, that's kids for ya," right?
Except we do the same, as adults, to God.
David did. If you remember your Bible stories, you know that David is famous for two historical events. The first one was a celebration of his defeat over Goliath when the rest of the army of Israel cowered in fear over this behemoth of a man. Not only did he defeat the man, he did so without wearing armor; instead, he trusted that the God who had delivered him, as a shepherd, from the lion and the bear would also deliver him from this blaspheming brute.
God did, and David became a national hero.
However, the Bible doesn't shy away from showing the flaws in its heroes.
One a spring day, when kings go away to war, David saw the wife of another man bathing on the rooftop (which isn't unusual as water catch basis were usually on rooftops) and called Bathsheba to his chambers. David misused his power, transgressed God's law, and then tried to move on like nothing ever happened.
When word came to David that Bathsheba was pregnant with his child, he devised a plan. He called Bathsheba's husband back from the battle to spend some time with Bathsheba. But Uriah would not cooperate. He slept at the gate to the city. So David put the cover-up into phase two, he sent Uriah back into the most dangerous part of the battle, and he was killed.
This is definitely not hero behavior.
David marries Bathsheba and plans to go on with life.
But God knew.
The Lord sent Nathan to David to tell him this tale.
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. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 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. 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." (2 Samuel 12:1-4 ESV)
David's reaction is the height of irony.
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, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." (2 Samuel 12:5-6 ESV)
Then Nathan shows David his dirty hands and face.
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. 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. 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. (2 Samuel 12:7-9 ESV)
"You are the man!"
How many times have we heard God say that to us?
If you haven't, let me be the first to tell you that the whole world has done evil in God's sight, and you aren't the exception.
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. (Romans 2:1 ESV)
We are the men and the women who have done evil in the sight of the Lord.
David's reaction in Psalm 31 should be a salve to all of our souls.
A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah (Psalm 32:1-5 ESV)
Amen.
The world isn't made up of righteous judges and guilty sinners; the world is made up of sinners who have received the Lord's forgiveness and sinners who still don't see their own dirty hands and face.
If you are among the forgiven, then take a deep breath of gratitude.
If you haven't reached out to Christ for forgiveness, will you?
Keep safe, be well, and stay encouraged.
Brian