Form of Godliness and Growing Deception

David had spiralled into a web of sins. Lust of the eyes and flesh had enticed him all the way to adultery, which led to pre-meditated murder of the innocent husband of the married woman he decided he had to have, after she revealed she was pregnant.

 ¹And the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."
⁵Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, ⁶and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." ⁷Nathan said to David, "You are the man!

2 Samuel 12, ESV

He had to have been in that condition of darkness brought on my unconfessed sin for at least a few months based on what details of the story we are told. Finally, the LORD sent a prophet to confront David (let me just interject that this was an act of mercy, since David's heart would have only grown more hardened and separated from God). Nathan, performing such a critical role, likely had received from the LORD the method he was to use to confront David, namely, the parable above. And here we have what alarms me: David still possessed a strong sense of 'justice' and 'righteousness'. He expressed outrage at the scenario which the prophet presented before him. He would use his authority as king to punish the man who had done such an evil thing. And Nathan said to him, "You are the man!"

There is a lot that deserves attention here, but I want to focus on the scary fact that we can be in unconfessed and known sin, drifting from God, in open rebellion and disobedience, and yet raise our voice for 'righteousness.'  We can still have a taste for what is morally good. We can fool a lot of people. People can give us the wrong impression of their spiritual health too. We can even fool ourselves. Yet God knows all and nothing can be hidden from Him. Also, nothing is overlooked by Him - not even if we've had an impressive track record of faithfulness and obedience before.

Because this type of deception and hardness of heart is a reality, the lesson for you and me is that we need to continually ask the LORD,  "search me, see if there is any wicked way in me, and to help me to get rid of it lest I turn from You and get seduced by the deceitfulness of sin." 

Thank God that grace abounds more where sin abounds. He showed His love by confronting David so that he could escape the grip of the darkness that he had invited into his life. He will also help us if we are committed to sanctification. We do not have to wait till after sin has occurred with its myriad consequences.