WHAT an easy thing it is to see the faults of others, and how difficult it is for us to see our own sins! Possibly we may be indignant at a sin done by another, while we are asleep as to the same class of sin done by ourselves! So it was with that great man, that mighty servant of God, King David. He had sinned, but his soul slept as to the sin. Yes, for months together his soul had lost its sensitiveness, one great witness of a believer being in God’s presence. But after a while the Lord sent to David. Think we David could have gone to the Lord for communion and for sweetness of soul, while he slept as to the sin he had committed? Surely we know enough of our own hardness of heart to be aware that, as the shepherd must needs seek the sheep, so must our God of grace seek His backsliding people. The Lord sent to David, for He is full of grace.
So the prophet came to the king with this message from the Lord, “There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; 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. And there came a traveler 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.”
But the king did not understand the message; he took it, as we often take the messages of God, as a word about someone afar off, not as His word to ourselves. It was God’s word sent to David personally, yet he perceived not its application; but applied it to another. His wrath was kindled against the mean and shameful act, against the selfishness and the cruelty of the man described, and he said, “As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die; and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
Do not be harsh with David! The story is written for our admonition; God certainly had it not written to hold David up to shame, and to expose lack of tenderness and sensitiveness in him! The sins of the great servants and the noblest of the saints of God are not told out by our Father in heaven, that His little servants and small saints might exalt themselves at the expense of their betters. Had mere men penned the stories of God’s saints, they had made them all heroes and idealities, or, worse, exaltations of the human race! God speaks of His servant’s sins, but He does so that we may take courage while we remain humble. Let us apply to ourselves the solemn words of God—thou art the man. Let us not lay as a burden upon another what we should feel as a weight upon ourselves. When our indignation because of sin arises, let us seek first to judge ourselves.
In the midst of David’s wrath against the man, and as he waited but to know his name to decree his death, Nathan said to him, “Thou art the man.”
Thou art the man! Oh! how changed are our thoughts about sin when we feel our own guilt! Thou art the man! Thou hast done this very evil thing thine own self.
The truth respecting himself was brought home to him; David felt his sin and confessed— “I have sinned against the Lord.” His sin came before him in its true character; he was discovered, exposed to himself, and thus was in the light respecting himself.
Forgiveness was his portion, but nevertheless the hand of God’s government was against David. His house had to suffer from the sword, for he had slain with the sword. He had brought distress upon Uriah’s house, so would distress fall upon his own house. Sin bears its bitter fruits, even though it be forgiven. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”