“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” — Psalm 51:3
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Football is a game with a lot of moving parts, giving opportunity for a lot to go wrong. In a hotly-contested game that goes down to the last 30 seconds of regulation time, one dropped pass or one bad throw or one bad call makes the difference.
Quarterbacks and receivers get the most face time, but an offensive lineman who missed a block and allowed a sack on the quarterback is just as much to blame for a loss as a receiver who dropped a touchdown pass on the last drive of the game. If a defensive player missed a tackle and allowed a touchdown, he shouldn’t moan about the quarterback throwing an interception. A coach’s bad call can shift a close game too. But it’s easy to point out what others didn’t get right while overlooking where you may have missed the target too.
In many cases, we see the sins of others with an eagle eye and often yearn for someone to swoop down like an angry bird and rip the wrongdoer to shreds — as long as that sinner is not us. That’s what happened one day when Nathan the prophet visited King David in 2 Samuel 12. As the messenger met with David, he approached the king by telling a story. This Old Testament parable grabbed David’s attention — Nathan used a comparison to describe how a rich man took the “one little lamb” a poor and innocent man owned.
As David pondered the vivid story, he shouted his disapproval and insisted on the death penalty for the man who betrayed the innocent man and broke God’s commandments (2 Samuel 12:5-6). David was ready to order the destruction of this terrible person — but he didn’t realize he was pronouncing judgment upon himself.
Suddenly, the prophet seized the moment and looked David in the eye and revealed that David was the man in the parable (v. 7). Furthermore, Nathan summarized everything God did for David, including giving him the throne and a family and so much more. Then Nathan spelled out David’s sins: “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” (2 Samuel 12:9).
At this point, David saw his own sins and felt truly repentant for everything he did. Psalms 32 and 51 were probably written as confessions of David’s sins and also in gratitude for God’s great mercy in forgiving undeserving sinners.
Where have you been too focused on the wrongdoings of others? Where do you need to look inward and reflect where you’ve fallen short? Go straight to God in repentance and ask Him to align your heart with His. He is faithful.
— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia
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