Nathan used an old preaching trick to get his point across to David. He pulled David into a story about someone else. This allowed David to safely see his own disgusting self in someone else. At the end of Nathan’s report, David angrily called for justice against this terrible character! Trapped!
Nathan turned the tables and revealed that David was the bad guy in the story. This rhetorical trick works because human beings have no trouble seeing everyone else’s faults, except their own. Sin does that. It makes us blind. It literally brainwashes us into living an illusion that what we are doing is ok and normal. The mind can be convinced of anything! History is full of shocking examples of whole societies even convincing themselves that wrong is right and vice versa, like some sort of mass hypnosis. Satan is a liar if he is anything. Evil is frequently completely self-unaware, sometimes even believing it is doing good.
Think about that. David had committed a number of atrocities. He stole his friend’s wife. She was with child from him. He tried to cover it up, which led him to have Uriah killed in a battle in order to make it look like David was the hero who stepped in and took care of his wife! When Nathan came to him, he didn’t seem to be aware that he had done anything wrong. Wow! Creep.
He should be damned, right? See you’re getting the hang of it. David’s sins outrage you? Well, like Nathan said to David, “You are the bad guy in this story!”
How have you taken from others? How have you tried to cover it up? What sort of illusions do you live in while people are hurting due to your words and deeds. Yes, I know, you aren’t as bad as David. Comparison is a seductive path to righteousness, but it always falls short when we find ourselves all alone.
Nathan told David, “God has put away your sin, you shall not die.” The same God says the same thing to you! Yet He proclaims it to you with a more powerful voice and in a more convincing way. You are forgiven. Christ has died in your place. Your sin, your atrocities, have been put away, nailed to the cross, and buried in the tomb. May God daily open our eyes to our failures and open our ears to hear His voice of forgiveness.
