Nathan And David: Confrontation (Daily Devotional)

Hi everyone, welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you once again for giving us this opportunity to minister to you and spend a few minutes in the word and prayer. This week, we are talking about mentorship; we have looked at Elijah and Elisha, Moses and Joshua. Today, we will look at Nathan and David and the great confrontation that happened between them. In 2 Samuel chapter 12, Nathan, the prophet, goes to David and begins to explain to him through a parable about the wrong that he did. After reciting the entire story, in 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 7, Nathan says to David, ‘you are that man.’ In the above chapter, Nathan confronts David about his relationship with Bathsheba and the cover up of their affair. The Lord has commanded Nathan to share a story about a rich man who took a poor mans only lamb. David was justifiably angry at this injustice. David said, ‘we need to bring this person to task and being punishment upon this rich man.’ Nathan answered and said, ‘you are that man.’ David had blood on his hands, he was guilty of killing Bathsheba’s husband as well as committing adultery. God brought judgement upon David for his sin, including death of his and Bathsheba’s child. However, David repented, was forgiven and remained king. It is never easy to tell someone about the wrong that they are doing or they have done. It is even harder to tell someone that their behavior is out of line. Nathan knew that he had a big task ahead of him to get the king some difficult correction from God. He was probably nervous about how king David would respond. So, Nathan chose a gentle way to help David understand the situation from another point of view. Nathan helped David to empathize with the person he had wronged. Nathan mentored king David by helping him see where he had wandered form God’s law. He spoke the truth that needed to be spoken in a loving way. When you and I confront someone during mentorship, it needs to be done with great love and compassion. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 15 says, ‘speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.’ We need not yell and scream as we call out bad behavior because then we become part of the problem. Instead, we must use a mature approach, confronting with gentleness and kindness so that our words can be heard. Interestingly, King David didn’t try to defend his sinful behavior, instead he responded with penitence. His heart was softened to what he had heard. Many times, as mentors or mentees, we may have to bring correction, let us do it with love. May we also hear God’s word and respond in love to Christian mentors who guide us, to help us follow Christ more closely. Let’s pray, Father, we thank you for this word, we thank you that you are a God who corrects us in love. Even as you have given us this responsibility to be mentored by leaders, we pray that we will walk in love, bring correction in love, that we will learn to accept ourselves and to walk closely with you. We thank you for you Holy Spirit that teaches us, we give you all the praise and glory, in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.

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