Day 61: A Fallen Family

2 Samuel 12:1-4

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

Comments

This parable was told to King David by Nathan the prophet after David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his cowardly act of sending her husband, Uriah, to certain death in battle.

David failed to see himself in the parable, but reacted with an angry denunciation of any man who could do such a terrible thing.

Nathan responded to David’s wrath with blunt words: “You are the man!”

Reflections

David’s “family values” were terribly distorted by his own lust and sense of entitlement, and yet God forgave him fully. How fully are those who are divorced or have committed adultery welcomed into your church family? Are not those who have lost their family through bad choices the ones who most need to be part of a new family?

Prayer

Help me, Lord, to extend your grace to those who need it most.