David looked around at all of his possessions. He admired the finery of his life and the people who appreciated and even adored him. His was a challenging but rewarding life. It had been well described as “Blessings galore and ten thousand beside”.
He surveyed all which was before him. He realized that there was nothing he desired which would be denied him. He was a man of the people and a leader beyond compare. There was but one thing David did not fully comprehend of all his blessings. Why was it that Uriah had a blessing which David did not have?
This question is not about lust or greed or selfish desire but rather one of … Well, before we get into that, let’s look at the impact of David’s life and example to others. If we look through the immediate history of Israel after David’s rule we see some who followed his admirable traits and some who used his shortcomings as excuses for practicing their own. Great leaders rise and fall based upon what or whom they trust in. Later on the nation falls into the same sin and debauchery that caused David to demand fulfillment from a pleasure not matched to him. Today we look at church leaders who do exactly what David did and we rightly condemn their selfishness without giving them the forgiveness we give David.
The Psalmist wrote “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and He will give you the desires of your heart”. Knowing, understanding and receiving the blessings of God are often three distinct and separate processes. We know intellectually that God desires for us to enjoy the life He has given us until we go to the next life. We understand that not everything which the world calls pleasure is what he calls pleasure for us individually. We receive His blessings and favor with great joy and fulfillment when we know it is from His hand. We also know that when we appropriate a gift intended for someone else we not only steal from them but tarnish and defile the very gift itself.
There is no doubt from the description in scripture that Bathsheba was a beautiful woman. There is also not doubt from the account in scripture that she was a whore. Does that sound too harsh?
David had not one but several complete collections of silverware. Each was completely fulfilling and had enough pieces to satisfy every participant at every meal. Each set was beautiful, even the plain ones, and each was properly cared for so it would be prepared for its next use. Yet David saw his neighbor’s silverware and determined that all that he had was not sufficient for his desire. It was not his need but rather his greed that sent David to that rooftop to survey all that was before him. He was not there to thank God for his blessings but rather to demand of God what blessing should befall him next. When he looked outside of all that was given into his hand by the love of God, he saw what was only God’s to give and demanded more. He looked upon another set of silverware and thought it declared to him, “My Teaspoon is bigger than yours”.
David’s teaspoons were the same size. A teaspoon is in reality a teaspoon. Its purpose is to be a teaspoon. It is to fulfill the needs of its owner. If someone else takes the teaspoon they are called a thief. David did not need another teaspoon. David simply wanted what he thought was more than what he had. David did not satisfy himself with what was his but demanded of God that which was God’s. If someone desires to be as the Most High we say they are a blasphemer as Lucifer.
A cursory review of David’s choices show that he broke all ten commandments in one foolish and selfish act. He wanted to be able to say “My Teaspoon is bigger than yours”. Actually it was not his teaspoon but God’s. Many times we hear of preachers or preachers’ wives who have deserted their sacred marriage vows for a more desirable lust of the flesh.
We look to David’s example and condemn them for their weakness, vowing to never again see them as a man or woman of God again. Yet David’s example is different. He was already married multiple times and blessed with many children. He too, was already fully in God’s favor. Yet he failed as a leader, as a man of God, as a friend and as a believer. But there is a bigger teaspoon here. David was forgiven. By his family who accepted his new addition to the family. By his people, by his adviser Nathan, by the generals who he did not murder or steal their lambs. But more importantly David was forgiven by God.
God has a goodly set of silverware; powerful forks able to take every blessing with joy; knives like unto swords able to rightly divide the truth and defend the faith,; serving utensils greater than the need any attending His banquet table could have for the ministering of the saints. And the teaspoons. God alone is able to say “My Teaspoon is bigger than yours”. Because his teaspoon has on it the Cross of Calvary. His teaspoon is often used for doses of medicine to undo the ill effects of sin. His teaspoon is filled with forgiveness for every need. It is a piece which appears to be missing from some of our sets these days. It is missing because it is difficult for us to apply. In fact it seems harder for us to to share that teaspoon with the one in our mirror than with others who offend us.
Here is a hard question; would Uriah have forgiven David? Because if he could have, he would be able to say “My Teaspoon is bigger than yours”.
In the Psalm of the Cross David wrote “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” We do that. We reject and condemn and tell them to go get their forgiveness from God because our teaspoon just isn’t that big.
One of the great gifts of our day is that of organ transplants. Sometimes we have a spare to share and joy comes from goodness. However sometimes tragedy makes an organ available and joy comes from sadness. One popular story is of a father who having done all he could do without success, kills himself so his dying son can have his heart and live. So much love expressed in the act of giving over so another may have life. But here is a greater story. What if a man whose son had been shot and killed by a criminal, donates his son’s heart so the criminal, who would die without it, might live? How big is that teaspoon?
Whether you can receive it or not, that is the teaspoon God holds out to you. He invites you to take it so you might share it with others. Every time you forgive someone who should have known better, who ripped peace and joy and purpose and life itself from your breast, every time you are saying “My Teaspoon is bigger than yours”. Because it is not your teaspoon, it is God’s. It is yours to use for He willingly gave it to the criminal who needed it to live even though it cost His son His very life. The name inscribed on the teaspoon is forgiveness. It has a cross in the design of it and carries the most powerful medicine in the universe.
Is there anyone you cannot forgive? Is there someone in your mirror who needs your teaspoon? Is there any power in heaven or on earth which can say “My Teaspoon is bigger than yours”? Oh and King David had the chance to use that same teaspoon. Remember that even though Absalom became his fierce enemy and shamed him and sought to kill him, David held out the teaspoon. Forgiveness does not erase consequences. It does however allow you to say “My Teaspoon is bigger than yours”.