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Nathan – A Prophet; Not a Yes Man (3 of 3)

Focus Text: Psalm 51,2 Samuel 12

Question: What is more difficult than a true friend telling another that he/she is wrong? Answer: Not telling a friend when he/she is wrong when they need to be told. Whether you agree with this statement or not, you have to admire Nathan as he came before David to tell him of his wrong and that with the apparent motivation of obtaining David’s repentance and his ultimate restoration to God.

Nathan was not the first prophet to have such a task and neither was he the last. The important thing was, he was faithful to his calling as a prophet. Not only did Nathan do what he should have done in response to David’s actions, he provided the spark it took to move David to action. It would have been an impossible task for Nathan or any other prophet to move the guilty to repentance without confronting them on a level that simply could not, from a human perspective, be comfortable. This simply meant that Nathan’s devotion to God was stronger than his desire to be liked, or accepted, or even safe. As a prophet, Nathan saw his first obligation as being owed to God and all else was secondary or somewhere further down the line of importance.

Question: What would have become of the rest of the history of Israel and God’s promises of a Messiah had Nathan not done his job as a prophet? Answer: We don’t know but we do know that it was Nathan’s stand for truth that secured the repentance of a man that centuries later was to be called a “man after God’s own heart” (see Acts 13:22). It is almost certain that it was this confrontation that moved David to pen the fifty-first Psalm, a truly inspirational Psalm for any person who finds himself or herself estranged from God. What person can help but be moved by David’s straightforward confession as he proclaimed, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge”? (Psalm 51.3-4). Who can but empathize with David as he sought his place of repentance and penned, “Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit”? (Psalm 51.9-12).

God ultimately is to receive the glory for the power of truth in our lives, but without the voice of the faithful prophets like Moses, Samuel, and Nathan, God’s word would not otherwise be heard. When we think of the great prophets of the Bible, those who had the greatest impact on human history are not necessarily the ones about whom we read the most. Sometimes it was just a word or two that turned men around and altered the fate of nations. That is the way it was with Nathan, and that is the way it is today. Although we do not have prophets today in the sense of those just mentioned, as believers we bear a similar responsibility of speaking God’s truth in the face of error. Who knows but that such a word meekly spoken might likewise turn a sinner around and even change the fate of nations!

Questions:

1. What possible motives were behind Nathan’s confrontation of David?

2. How do we know that Nathan’s priorities were straight when it came to calling David to repentance?

3. Does the fifty-first Psalm have any application to your life? If you think not, think again!

4. Among the prophets, where does Nathan rank in the amount written about him? Among the prophets, where does Nathan rank in positive impact upon the history of Israel?

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Inerrancy in History