How do you see yourself before God?

2Sam 16-18 Shepherd, King, or Parent?

How do you see David as you read the scriptures? Do you see him as a sweet shepherd boy tending his flock? Do you see him as one who was fearless against Goliath? Do you see him as a man who had to flee for his life when King Saul tried to kill him? How about as a king, mighty avenging the enemies of Israel? We all see those scenes in our minds, but when we come to the book of 2 Samuel, we find that David was a man like us. He sinned, and it took a prophet to cause him to repent. But it isn’t until we see David as a parent that we find a side of him that we find somewhat unnerving.

It stops us in our tracks. We stop and ask why David allowed his firstborn, Absalom, the apple of his eye, to be undisciplined, and then it hits home. We are a lot like David, or we are that Absalom. We are that person that is envious. [James 4:2]

God put this story in here because He wants us to see ourselves with all of our warts and ugliness. It is because God wants us to see the price of our sins, not just in ourselves, but the reason that Jesus had to come to earth to pay the ransom of our sins.