So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!”
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!” 2 Samuel 12:5,7
If you read your daughter a story about a princess, a witch, and a troll, with which of those characters do you want your little princess to identify? Well, the princess, of course! And it is good that she does. A lot of the stories we tell children are moral tales designed to shape their hearts and minds, train them to do the right thing, and show them the consequences of bad choices. Encouraging them to identify with the noble characters and never the villains is a part of that.
There may be exceptions, but I think the tendency for most of us is to identify with either the hero of a story, or, if that’s not possible, with the victim. We don’t want to relate to the bad guy. With children, this is good. Their self-perception is only beginning to develop. Their character is still being formed. But as we get older, the point of a story is not always to caution us about what we could become. Sometimes it’s a warning to repent of what we are.
For example, when the prophet Nathan came to King David and told a story about a poor man and an unjust man, David did not recognize that the story was about his unjust treatment of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. Nathan had to spell it out for him in the famous line (which in my head is always said in the King James wording), “Thou art the man!”
Jesus had a lot of stories like this for the Pharisees and religious leaders of his day. In Matthew 21:33-46 he told a story about wicked vinedressers who were hired to care for a man’s vineyard. When the owner sent his servants to collect the harvest, the vinedressers beat them and even killed some. When the owner sent his son, thinking they would respect him at least, they were even more motivated to kill the son in hopes of seizing his inheritance.
The Pharisees listening to this story didn’t follow at first. They were morally outraged, like King David had been at Nathan’s story, and they said that the vinedressers should be punished. But the Pharisees were the vinedressers! Jesus basically had to spell it out for them too, and finally in verse 44 they “perceived that He was speaking of them.”
When King David realized that he was the wicked man in Nathan’s story, he immediately repented. When the Pharisees realized that Jesus was talking about them, they “sought to lay hands on him,” (v. 46). And eventually, they lived out the parable, killing the Son of the Master.
How do you see yourself in the story of your life? Maybe you’ve been told over and over that you’re bad and you’ll always be bad. Maybe you relate to life as a victim— of circumstances, of mean people, of fate. Maybe you
are as blessed as any princess, and maybe you are a very real hero to some.
But the spiritual reality is that we are all victims of Satan’s deception, and we’re all villains too because we all sin, and sometimes, like David and the Pharisees, we don’t even recognize it. But in the Bible, Jesus is always the hero. There are many fairy tales in which honest, hard-working peasants are raised up to royalty because of their goodness. But Jesus is hero even to the bad guys, placing villains like you and me in the family of God.
We are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Romans 8:16
Sometimes in life we may be called on to do heroic things, but ultimately we don’t have to be the hero. Our job in this story we’re living is that of humble servant. We must recognize our need for saving and let Jesus come to the rescue.
He is.. able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him. Hebrews 7:25
Dear Heavenly Father, when I think about who it is that sent Jesus to the cross because of their sin, I realize that it was me. Help me to relate to You properly as a humble servant in Your kingdom, but may I ever be encouraged by the knowledge that, because You are good, You love and bless me as Your child. May I seek Your glory and not my own. In Jesus’s lovely name, Amen.
by Christie Cole Atkins
Bonus: In this very moving hymn by Ray Overholt, it’s the chorus (not sung in this rendition until the very end) that will really bring tears to your eyes! I encourage you to take two minutes to listen to this song.
Walk Worthy 