DAILY READING
REFLECTION
THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
By Pam Mann
What a heart breaker this passage is! Young David the giant slayer, now a king, has become a selfish ogre! What a tough job Nathan has in announcing the Lord’s displeasure to the smug king. And what a fitting parable Nathan tells to convict the king of his sin. We can easily imagine David’s growing outrage as Nathan describes the callous dominance of the rich man over his poor neighbor. David himself cries out that such an abuse of power merits death! In a heartbeat after David’s enraged pronouncement, Nathan announces, “You are the man.” Imagine David’s shock at these words. Then dawns the dreadful realization that David did indeed commit even more heinous acts. His elite royal position enables a cover-up, but God knows. Now God has sent Nathan to David so that now David knows how fully God knows his sin.
David’s own mouth declared that the sheep stealer deserves death. Nathan’s story has had exactly the impact God intended on the wayward king. At last, David is asking himself, “What have I done?”
What has David done? Adultery. Murder. Concealment of his crime. He’s become a hard-hearted king, like any pagan king. Thanks to Nathan’s story, he has not lost all his compassion nor his hunger for justice. He still wants to defend the oppressed from the powerholders who would abuse them. Sadly, he must face the man in the mirror and admit, “I am the man.”
However, the Lord has put away David’s sin and his life is spared. Yet there will be severe consequences within David’s household for his sin. His wives and his children will be victims of sin like David’s. David admits his sin and even sings of the humbling experience in Psalm 51. Yet, the consequences of his sinful choices remain within his family.
Most of us don’t have a Nathan who will come and tell us stories to convict us of our sin. Nor do most of us have David’s musical talent to sing our heartfelt repentance out to God. But we have God’s Word to act as a mirror for us.
James 1:23-25 explains: "Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do."
PRAYER
Lord God, thank you for dealing graciously with us as we look in the mirror and see our sin. Keep us honestly reading Your word so we quickly run to You when temptation presses in. Grow in us greater sensitivity to the work of your Spirit in our hearts and minds.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PAM MANN
I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.
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