God will come to you in personal ways, if you let Him. He has a way of getting our attention. He will speak to you through references that are only significant to you—situations that no one else knows about. Each time we brush past these moments and ignore Him, we lose a bit of our ability to truly hear what He is trying to say.
I love the following story in the Bible because it shows me that God speaks to us in ways that have deep, purposeful meaning specific to our hearts. It's a story told by Nathan the prophet to David the King of Israel in 2 Samuel chapter 12.
“There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very large flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.”
At first glance, it’s a moving story. Now let's dig into the backstory. David was one of the greatest kings in Israel’s history. At this moment, he is experiencing victory in his kingdom—deep honor and reverence from his people and incredible blessings from the Lord. In the eyes of the people, he is unstoppable because God is at his side fighting his battles.
In the midst of abundance and victory, David makes a grave private mistake.
He sleeps with another man’s wife—and not just any man, one of his elite trained men, Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was one of David’s thirty mighty men talked about in 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11. He betrays a man who had sworn allegiance to him and defies the principles God had put in place to keep himself and his kingdom safe.
David does this secretly, trying to cover up what He’s done from the perceptive public eye. But God sees and knows all.
I can imagine David privately making excuses for his sin. He could just keep moving on the way things had always been and no one would know the difference. But God had another plan in mind. God knew that David’s sin would only separate him from the most important relationship in his life: his relationship with God.
And God didn’t want that, so He confronted David through Nathan the prophet in a way that only God could dream up. When reading this confrontation, know that it came from a person David valued in his life, someone who had stuck by David's side, given him counsel, and believed God’s best with him over the years. This wasn’t a man off the streets, nor was it simply an acquaintance; Nathan was a dear friend.
So Nathan approached David with a story—and not just any story, mind you, but one that
would touch the heart of David. God could have stepped down from heaven personally and told David what he did was wrong, but instead God spoke in an uncommonly personal way— by telling the story of a little lamb.
To a normal king, born into royalty, the story of a little lamb may have been completely insignificant. Sheep were killed frequently for sacrifices and food during this time in history. They were considered property. I imagine one would have to develop a personal detachment from them in order to eat them. Pure and simple, they were animals to a normal king—animals which were readily expendable.
But David was not your normal king. To David, the story of the little lamb meant infinitely more. David grew up as a shepherd boy, one of the lowliest positions a person could hold during that day and age. For years, David had cared for sheep. To David, sheep were not simply possessions; they were family.
He fought off lions and bears to protect them. He risked his own life readily for their safety. I
imagine he would journey with them daily, walking with them and talking with them. Calling them by name, nudging them and leading them through the dangerous paths of peril to safety. They were his companions and unknowing confidants. And they knew him. They responded to his voice.
They trusted him and followed him willingly.
There’s a uniquely beautiful relationship that sheep have with their shepherd. They recognize their shepherd's voice. They trust in his care for their lives. David was that shepherd. He valued them, understood them—you see, these little lambs held a special place in David’s heart that was specifically unique to him. A place within the hidden crevices of who he was.
With this story, God stepped into the moments of David’s past, when God alone was with him and saw him, when he was a nothing, a nobody—just a simple shepherd boy who loved God and loved his sheep.
God saw him there and pulled from the deepest part of who David was when He spoke to David in this passage.
As the story unfolds, David was so moved and ready to fight for the injustice of this little lamb that he issued a decree even before Nathan shared the entirety of the message. When David found out that he was the stingy man from this story and the little lamb was a representation of Bathsheba, David immediately responded in repentance before God.
This is exactly what God wanted. David had the courage to listen and respond.
Even when we’ve done things wrong and want to hide from His voice, He always seems to find a way to get through to us. We just need the courage to listen.
God always speaks in order to restore.
He has your best interest at heart. He corrects you because He loves you, just like any loving parent would.
So what is God speaking to you in this season? Where is He speaking? Whatever it is, I pray that God gives you and I the courage to listen. The courage to know Him and know He has your best interest at heart. The courage to listen in a world that is so bombarded with noise and business that it threatens to squelch His promptings.
"I pray He gives us the courage to listen beyond what is natural in order to hear the supernatural. That every time we sense His nudging we pause, turning aside to hear His oh-so-lovely voice. Know God. Eliminate distractions, because sometimes it simply takes courage to listen."

Photo Credit: Trinity Kubassek from pexels.com
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