No one would take a poor man’s treasure and thrash it to bits.
Would they?
What sort of greed would drive a rich man to procure that which is of value only to one who has little, and destroy it for his own pleasure? The hubris is monumental, a dark stain that can only be ascribed to one who is morally bankrupt.
Or to one who has been given much and who has lost touch with the feelings of others.
Beloved David, the king who was a man after God’s own heart, was given great power and riches as the king of his people. God loved David and withheld nothing from him.
David began to think everything belonged to him, even another man’s wife. He took Bathsheba, Uriah’s wedded mate, and even contrived to have Uriah killed in battle so he could justify what he’d done.
David felt vindicated. Yet, God knew how to get through to the man who no longer saw himself as an ordinary man. He knew how to yank David’s chain.
2 Samuel 12:3 tells us:
“[A] 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.”
How touching! Even David’s heart was moved. Then God drove David’s deed home. Verse 4 goes on to tell us a rich man took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for a feast for another man.
David was incensed, only to learn the story was his own. He had to see it in a light that moved his heart before he truly understood.
What lamb have we claimed as our own? Is it our time that should be given to our children? Or the church building endowment that we conveniently forget to fund? Our perhaps it’s our time in prayer that we trade for a few minutes extra sleep.
We are rich in God’s salvation. We must be diligent not to steal away that which belongs to others. It may be the only treasure they have.
When we claim something in Jesus’ name, let’s make sure it doesn’t already belong to someone else.
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Code: FGO.F.16.15.vp.esv