Broken and Blessed
2 Samuel 12:1-14 – New International Version (NIV)
1 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to
him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other
poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and
cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little
ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children.
It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like
a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man,
but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to
prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe
lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to
him.”
5 David burned with
anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did
this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times
over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are
the man! This is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I
delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your
master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you
all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given
you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of
the Lord by doing what
is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword
and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the
Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never
depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own
household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes
I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will
sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in
secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all
Israel.’”
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have
sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “The Lord has
taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But
because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will
die.”
Who told David “There were two men in a certain town,
one rich and one poor” (verse 1)?
What did the rich
man have (verse 2)?
How did the poor man
take care of his “one little ewe lamb” (verse 3)?
What did the rich
man prepare for the traveler who came to him (verse 4)?
How did David feel
about the rich man (verse 5)?
What did David
demand the rich man to do (verse 6)?
Who did Nathan say
the rich man was (verse 7)?
How did David kill “Uriah
the Hittite” (verse 9)?
Why would the sword never
depart from David’s house (verse 10)?
Who will sleep with
David’s wives “in broad daylight” (verse 11)?
How did David sleep
with Uriah’s wife (verse 12)?
How did David react
to Nathan’s accusation (verse 13)?
Who has taken away
David’s sin (verse 13)?
What will happen to “the
son born to you” (verse 14)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, where
do we see the fruit of repentance in this passage?
Psalm 51:1-17 - New International
Version (NIV)
For the
director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after
David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have
mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I
know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me
with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create
in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I
will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
you who are God my Savior,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
When did
David write this Psalm?
What did David plead for (verse 1)?
How did David want God to treat his sin (verse 2)?
What does David know (verse 3)?
Who has David sinned against (verse 4)?
When did David’s sinfulness begin (verse 5)?
What did God desire “even in the womb” (verse 6)?
When will David be clean (verse 7)?
What does David ask be done with his “iniquity” (verse 9)?
What does David ask God to create (verse 10)?
Where does David not want God to cast him (verse 11)?
What does David ask God not to take (verse 11)?
What does David want restored (verse 12)?
Why will David “teach transgressors your ways” (verse 13)?
Who does David ask to “deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed”
(verse 14)?
What does God not delight in (verse 16)?
What does David sacrifice (verse 17)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, where do we see the fruit of repentance in this passage?
In your opinion, how is the anger and the sorrow of 2 Samuel 12:1-14 transformed
by David’s knowledge of God’s mercy in Psalm 51:1-17?
Matthew 1:6b-7 – New International
Version (NIV)
David
was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon
the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam
the father of Abijah,
Abijah
the father of Asa,
Who was the
father of Solomon (verse 6)?
How is Solomon’s
mother identified (verse 7)?
Who was
Solomon the father of (verse 7)?
In your
opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, where do we see the fruit of
repentance in this passage?
In your
opinion, why is the listing of Uriah’s wife as the mother of Solomon and an
ancestor of Jesus in Matthew 1:6b-7 surprising when you consider what 2 Samuel
2:1-14 reveals?
In your
opinion, what does Matthew 1:6b-7 reveal about the way that God received the
sacrifice David offered in Psalm 51:1-17?
Romans 4:1-8 – New International Version (NIV)
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather
according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If,
in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but
not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham
believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a
gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who
does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited
as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he
speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart
from works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
How is Abraham described (verse 1)?
Who could Abraham not boast about, if he “was justified
by works” (verse 2)?
“What does Scripture say?” (verse 3)?
What are wages to “the one who works” (verse 4)?
Who is “faith credited as righteousness” (verse 5)?
Who “says the same thing” (verse 6)?
Who is “Blessed” (verse 7)?
How does David describe the “one whose sin the Lord will
never count against them” (verse 8)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion,
where do we see the fruit of repentance in this passage?
In
your opinion, how is trusting in God that Paul says in Romans 4:1-8 is an
important part of the justification of the ungodly displayed by David in Psalm
51:1-17?
In your opinion, how
do the words of David as quoted in Romans 4:1-8 when combined with the fact
that David and Uriah’s wife were both listed in the genealogy of Jesus proof
that God is able and willing to not count sins against us?
In your opinion, what do these passages from 2 Samuel, Psalms,
Matthew, and Romans teach us about how we are both broken and blessed?
In your
opinion, how can we live in “the joy of” God’s salvation today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
