You da man

You da man!

Everyone has heard this expression.  Although it is not exclusive to sports, it is especially common among athletes.  I played various sports in my younger years.  Whether it is sinking a bucket in basketball or getting the crucial yard in football, after a good play the expression “you da man” is fitting and is a complement.

It is found in the Old Testament but it is used in a way that is not so complementary.

David has always been one of my favorite Bible characters.  He is after all referred to as “a man after GOD’S own heart.” (Acts 13:22)

One of the reasons for believing in the Inspiration of the Bible is that a book written by man would not have revealed the failures and weaknesses of its heroes.  Yet here is David.  King.  The City of David.  Mentioned prominently in the lineage of Christ in Matthew 1.  And yet his faults are not hidden.

That is the reason he is one of my favorite characters of the Bible.  When I read about this great man of GOD and his failures, then I can be encouraged even when I remember my own failures.

One of the great failures Scripture records about David is found in 2 Samuel 11.  It is here we read about David and the adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.  There are many lessons to be learned from this account.  I will mention just a few without any attempt to expound on them.

Verse 1 notes that in times when kings go out to battle, David remained in Jerusalem and sent Joab.  Hence we might say David was in a place he shouldn’t have been.

Verse 2 reveals that in his time of leisure David saw the beautiful woman from his roof’s vantage point.  The text says she was beautiful to behold leading us to think David not only looked, he beheld.  1 John 1:1 makes a distinction between “that which is seen” and “that which is looked upon.”  It appears David gave more than just the casual glance.  Sometimes something catches our eye but the trouble could be when we began to “look upon” it, when we behold it.

Further reading notes David enquired about her and was told she was the wife of another.  Apparently that didn’t matter to him and he sent and took her.

This incident shaped David’s life.  Many of the Psalms reveal David’s guilt over this.  Read Psalms 51 for a particularly emotional example.

But as is sometimes the case, David did not immediately see the great wrong he had done.  Chapter 12 details the LORD sending Nathan to David.  Nathan’s parable is most fitting and when David heard the parable he reacted just like we all do, “…the man that has done this shall surely die.”

And then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

You da man, David, you da man.  Only this time it is not good.

David has just been reminded of the great wrong he has committed.

To his credit, and probably one reason he was a man after GOD’S own heart, he realized his mistake and he repented.  Verse 13 of chapter 12 notes, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

You da man.  How many times in our lives are we like David?  The sin might not be committing adultery and having someone killed.  But how many times each day are we guilty of sin?  What if we had a Nathan coming to us each time and saying “you are the man.”

We actually do have a Nathan telling us those things.  It is called a conscience.  But it has to be trained properly.  It has to be aligned with GOD’S word.

The Hebrew writer notes in Hebrews 13:8, “Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably.”

My prayer – “LORD, I desire to have a conscience that is trained according to Your will.  And when I mess up, I want to be like David.  When my conscience convicts me, when ‘I am the man’, I want to be like David.  Forgive me of my sins, help me to repent of my wrongs and strive to do better.”