I'll Be There For You! Week 3-King David and Nathan (Correction) March 3, 2024 Pastor Micah Reed

Pastor Micah wrapped our series this week called "I'll Be There For You!" This series focuses on the topic of friendship. Each week will will look at a different friendship from scripture along with a specific important characteristic of friendship. In scripture we see many examples of Godly friendship and how important it is to our walk with the Lord.

This week we looked at the relationship between King David and one his closest friends, adviser, and prophet, Nathan. The characteristic of friendship we focused on this week is correction. Correction is not a fun thing to do and can be very awkward and challenging, but it's necessary within any good friendship! After David has an affair with Bathsheba that result in a child he made the decision to put Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, on the front of the battle lines resulting in his death. God revealed this to Nathan and he had a difficult decision to make. Do I stay quiet and not risk my friendship with King David or do I risk my own life and confront his sin like God is asking me to? Ultimately, out of love for his friend Nathan confronted King David and had the difficult conversations. King David didn't receive it well initially, but then his attitude changed. He repented of his sin, asked for forgiveness, and began to worship God. There were still consequences as a result of David's sin, one being the loss of the child born due to the affair. You can read the complete story in 2 Samuel chapter 12. There are 3 key takeaways we can learn from Nathan and King David's friendship when it comes to our lives today:

1. Pray to God about these situations! (Never approach a conversation with someone in your own ability)
2. Have hard conversations out of love! (Love is the only acceptable motivation)
3. Make sure there is trust within your friendship! (The foundation of trust must exist in a friendship to have the hard challenging conversations)

Bottom Line: Correction and confrontation from a friend are good for us. A true friend wants you to experience the best of life and bring God's best out of you. If someone is allowing you to destroy yourself then they are not your friend. They are your enemy. Even though correction and confrontation might hurt, it is beneficial to our walk with Christ.