David loved the Lord. He was a man that God Himself described as being after His own Heart. David, when being pursued by King Saul was determined to do the right thing. He did not attempt to win his battles at all cost, but sought what would please God, which he reckoned at a point was not lifting a finger against God's anointed.
David, being human and frail, put his greedy, selfish, wicked and lustful side on display. He committed a grave sin, slept with Uriah's wife Bathsheba and then managed to get him killed as well, and thereafter married Bathsheba.
God was displeased and sent His servant Nathan to rebuke David. Nathan told David this story:
2 Samuel 12 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.2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 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.
4 “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.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
How easy it is for us to say what is right, and do otherwise. How easy it is for us to preach what we do not practice. Paul cautioned us in this way saying:
1 Corinthians 9:26-27 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
May God grant us the grace, and may we exercise self control and be disciplined to obey God's Word, and practice what we preach, and not become a cast away after leading many down the right route.
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