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by Stuart Briscoe Torchbearers’ Fellowship England
CONFESSION OF A LEADER I N THE LIFE OF D avid , we find his relationships with people. With out question, God is looking for men and women who can take positions of real leadership, readily available to the Lord as He works out His divine purposes in their lives. The basic requirement is a heart that is right with Him. We believe that the catastrophe of a leader is recounted for us in the sin of David and Beth- sheba so that as believers we may be reminded of the awful propensity to sin which is still within us. David’s sin began with and devel oped into wantonness, selfishness and deceitfulness. Each of us needs to check on his heart’s condition before the Lord to make certain that we aren’t hiding things. We cannot pre tend one thing and live another. Our lives must be wide open to the Lord so that He can do exactly as He wishes with us. It is important to note that God didn’t leave His servant at the mo ment he fell into this heinous sin. Nathan was sent to rebuke David as is related in II Samuel 12. Read and study that for yourself. Nathan told him a story about the two men. One was very rich and the other very poor. The one who was wealthy was blessed with an abundance of flocks and herds, while the other had only one little ewe lamb. Instead of tak ing one of his own, the affluent man stole this one treasured possession of the poor man. The Bible says, “And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Na than, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die.” Here we can see the awful hy pocrisy of David’s heart. He was willing to kill a man for stealing a lamb, but he overlooked the fact that
he had taken another man’s wife, and had her husband killed in order to cover his sins. You know it is possi ble for us utterly to condemn things people in the world do while condon ing and rationalizing sins in our own hearts, which often can be as bad or even worse. God won’t let David get away with it. Listen to Nathan’s powerful words: “Thou art the man!” The prophet fearlessly de clared, “God wants you to know that He sees your heart. He knows that while you put on a big show of being offended by this man, simulating righteous anger, you know deep down in your heart that you are the man who has done something in finitely worse.” We now see David at his lowest point. He openly confesses, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Right here he was ready to write the 51st Psalm. What a wonderful portion of Scripture to study! The only way there can be real victory in our lives is if we confess our sins and come to the Lord for forgiveness and cleansing. David said, “Oh God, have mercy upon me according to thy lov ing kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot ou t my transgressions.” David reached the same point to which all of us must come: a willingness to admit before God what we really are. Have you ever done this? While we may be sorry for what we have done, yet we are dilatory in confessing this and truly being repentant. Just be cause a person is sorry he gets caught or has been found out is not the same as a true humility of heart; that is but a fear of the conse quences. The Lord wants us to come before Him as Paul did on that won derful occasion saying, “Oh God, 7
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