Even when you have a message from the Lord, you will still have to engage wisdom in delivering it. Samuel once had a task to go anoint one of the sons of Jesse as a replacement for Saul. He was afraid that Saul would kill him if he heard of his mission. That fear was not unwarranted; so God had to teach him how to go about it. Paul said he preached the gospel in private to those who were of reputation when he got to Jerusalem. That was not a respect of person, it was wisdom so that his labour would not go fruitless. In our text, Nathan had to engage a parable to deliver God’s message and bring David to a point of conviction and repentance.

Even when you have a message from the Lord, you will still have to engage wisdom in delivering it…The beginning of the journey into apostasy is when we no longer feel the tugging of the conscience when we do wrong.

Having said that, it is intriguing that David needed a third party to tell him that he had fallen out with God. Apparently, by the time Nathan came with his parable, Uriah had been killed and David had married Bathsheba his wife. At this time too, Bathsheba had been delivered of a baby boy. We know this because Nathan said the child would die. So some nine months to one year must have elapsed between the sin of David and the time Nathan showed up. David not realising that anything had gone wrong is concerning. It is a pointer to a heart that had grown callous in dealing with issues and in walking with God. At some point, David would despise himself for cutting the edge of Saul’s garment. How did he get to a point of murdering someone and not be immediately troubled? This points to the fact that the heart can grow dull in the things of God. Consciences that are seared with hot iron, as Paul said, will make a shipwreck of their faith ultimately. The beginning of the journey into apostasy is when we no longer feel the tugging of the conscience when we do wrong.