Monday,
July 24, 2023
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story:
“There were two men in a certain town. One
was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great
many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he
had bought. He raised that little lamb,
and it grew up with his children. It ate
from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby
daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich
man. But instead of killing an animal
from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and
prepared it for his guest.” David
was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,”
he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He
must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no
pity.” Then Nathan said to
David, “You are that man! 2 Samuel 12:1-7a
King David had messed-up; sinned bigtime! He used the position and authority God had
given him to steal another man’s wife. When she became pregnant with David’s child,
the king engineered the husband’s death to cover his sin. He then married the widow, Bathsheba. God sent his fearless prophet Nathan to uncover
what David thought was behind him. Like
a sheriff setting-up the bad guy, Nathan told a story about a rich man taking a
poor man’s sheep. David arrogantly judged
the heartless rich man. Nathan’s
response: YOU are that man!
It was a Monday afternoon at school. The previous Saturday our football team had
fought hard and won the game. Monday
afternoon’s practices were for viewing the game films. Coach Weitz started with a lecture about
playing the game hard, but fair…like mature gentlemen. He said we didn’t do that on at least one
play. He then snapped-on the projector
to show the end of that play, where our team had tackled the runner with the
ball. It was a real pile-up! A split-second later, another of our team’s
players jumped in the pile…a late hit!
It was wrong by any standards…it was unnecessary
roughness. But for some unknown reason
our guy then threw a punch at the middle of the pile. And the referee’s penalty flags flew like a
red storm, and they all landed on #80....me!
What I thought was going to be a celebration of our team’s victory
turned out to be the hot spotlight on Russell’s sin. The Sheriff had arrived, and the bad guy
exposed like a sore thumb. Coach Weitz must have been descended from the
prophetic line of Nathan!
That was fifty-nine years ago, and, to this day, I still
don’t have a reason why I did such a thing.
It’s the signature-memory in my Can’t Believe I Did That Moments. But I do have a conclusion about that moment;
it proves that I was just as guilty as King David. I hit that guy when he was already down! And therein lies the rub; we are all capable
of any sin, and we all participate…we are all guilty. Apostle Paul said it clearly:
As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking
God. All have turned away; all
have become useless. No one does good, not
a single one.” Romans 3:10-12
For You Today
You chew on that as you
hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
There are about 2,600 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.
Title Image:
via Pixabay.com Images without citation are in
public domain. Unless noted, Scripture
quoted from NLT©
No comments:
Post a Comment