you are that man!

Today we read from 2 Samuel 12:1-31 in the One Year Bible. Samuel comes to King David and tells him a story about a rich man who steals a lamb from a poor man who owns only that lamb and nothing more. David is furious and demands that the man die. Then you can almost SEE Samuel whip around and point his finger at David. "AHA!!" he yells. "YOU ARE THAT MAN!"

And if David didn't mutter a cuss word at this point, I don't understand anything about humanity.

But what we do know is that David repented. He confessed that he'd done wrong, and poured his heart out to God. He asked for God's mercy. And God was merciful.

Now let's rewind.

Samuel came and asked David what he would do to this rich man who did evil. And David did NOT have mercy on ... well, on himself, basically. But then he asked God for mercy, and even though he was unwilling to give it, God was willing to give it to him.

Let's learn from David's example. We KNOW that we have sinned, right? So let's be merciful to those in our lives who have also sinned. Let's not judge harshly, so that we will not be judged harshly ourselves.

That's such good advice, you'd think Jesus would have said it.

God, thanks for being so merciful. Please help us to do the same.