Bolder: A Look at the Audacious Faith of Imperfect PeopleSample

Day 5: Nathan

Remember David from yesterday? He was a great guy. Except when he wasn’t. David did a lot of admirable things, like accepting God's decision to make him king and being patient waiting to become king. (He waited for Saul's reign to end instead of forcing himself onto the throne before God wanted it.) But David also made some huge mistakes. His most notable was when he cheated with another man’s wife and then had the man killed in battle; he basically committed murder to try and hide his sin. But David was the king at this point, so who was going to hold him accountable for that? Who was going to be able to accuse a king of murder and not be murdered themself?

Enter Nathan the prophet. As a prophet, Nathan’s job was to speak to people on God’s behalf. But Nathan was still a human. If you read ahead in the books of Kings and Chronicles, speaking for God didn’t mean kings wouldn’t try to kill you if they didn’t like what God had to say through you. So Nathan was in a tough situation, but he boldly obeyed God and went in to confront David anyway. How Nathan confronted David, though, can only be described as brilliant (and probably came straight from God). Nathan knew David would be angry (After all, who isn’t angry when they get called out?), but Nathan found a way to direct David’s anger to his own sin in a really clever way. Nathan told David a story, which you read in today’s Scriptures. David got so mad at the rich man in the story for how he treated the poor man that he ordered the rich man killed. And then came Nathan’s mic drop: “You are the man.”

Imagine how Nathan must have been feeling, how many times he must have practiced his story, and imagined how it might end. He must have been nervous, if not completely terrified. And when the moment came, did he hesitate? Did he have to take a deep breath? All we know is that he went ahead and said it. He called David out, regardless of David’s position and what his response was going to be. Fortunately for Nathan, and to David’s credit, David owned up.

The tone changed at that moment. Nathan’s response to David’s humility, ownership, and confession was compassion. Nathan was simply delivering the news of God’s response to David, but he was sure to remind David after he confessed and repented, “God has already put away your sin.” David still had to live with the consequences of his actions, but his guilt had been forgiven by God. So whichever side you find yourself on—being called out or having to call someone out—you can stand boldly to face fear or to face consequences because “God has already put away your sin.”

Reflection/Discussion Questions:

1. Have you ever had to call out a friend for how they might be hurting someone else? How did you go about it? How did it turn out? Would you do anything differently next time?

2. Read Proverbs 25:15 again. How does this verse suggest going about difficult conversations?

3. Have you ever had a bad response to someone pointing out a flaw in you? How might you show boldness in owning up next time?