TRUE REPENTANCE BRINGS HOPE (1)
(From the novel TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING by Pastor Taiwo Iredele Odubiyi)
ONE DAY, one of the servants announced the presence of Prophet Nathan to David.
“Bring him in immediately.” David said. Most likely the man of God had a message for him from the Lord. Good.
When the prophet entered, David greeted him warmly, obviously happy to see him. “What brings you? Do you have a message for me from the Lord?”
“Yes.” Nathan answered.
“Speak on.” David said.
Nathan wasn’t sure of what might happen after he had delivered the message he had for the king. He could order him killed, but as God’s prophet, he must obey God, he had no choice.
Clearing his throat and looking intently at David, the prophet sat forward and began, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.”
David sat up, looking at the man. This is going to be interesting.
Nathan continued. “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.”
David nodded to indicate he was listening.
“Now a traveller 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 traveller 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.”
When David heard that, he became very angry. How could the rich man have done that? In Israel where he was the king? No way! He would not tolerate that; whoever did such a thing must pay for it!
“As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” David decided.
Sitting back and looking at him, Nathan declared, “You are the man!”
David’s head reeled back with shock as if he had been slapped. “M-me?” He asked with a frown. “How?”
Nathan stood up and looking briefly upward, before returning his gaze to David, he said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites!’”
Uriah!
David’s body went still. God could see and actually saw everything that happened! Although he cleverly covered things up, yet God knew all the details! How could he have forgotten about God? Why did he forget that everything would be known by Him?
It occurred to him to deny the accusation and say he did not have sex with Bathsheba or that the woman seduced him. But he thought against the ideas; it would be foolish to do such a thing with God. He knew if he would be honest and admit his fault, God would forgive him, but if He chose to punish him by killing him, then so be it. God would be right to do so. He had to admit his sin.
(To be continued)
(This is from the novel: #TooMuchOfAGoodThing )
Available in #Bookshops, and #Online
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