Tunnel Vision

2 Samuel 12:2-7 “But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb
Which he bought and nourished;
And it grew up together with him and his children.
It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom,
And was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man,
And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd,
To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him;
Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

 

Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. “He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”  

 

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

Have you ever wondered how some folks can be so focused on others that they can't see their own faults?  Sometimes we have tunnel vision.  We can see everyone else's problems and everyone else's issues but we forget that we are oftentimes guilty of worse things.  David suffered from tunnel vision and it took the prophet Nathan to wake him up.

David had slept with Bathsheba and then hatched a plan to do away with her husband, Uriah.  He was so caught up in his sin that he did not see that he was committing adultery and murder simultaneously.  Nathan used a parable and painted a vivid picture of a rich man who abused his power and took away a poor man's prized possession.  The ewe lamb was all the poor man had as opposed to the man who had everything.

When Nathan related this parable to David, David was incensed!  How dare he take from the poor man.  He deserves to die!  He needs to make restitution!  All of these things were uttered by David and at that moment, David became self righteous.  He started lambasting the rich man for his thievery without understanding that he was also guilty of an even more heinous crime.  Nathan quickly reminded David that this parable was directed at him; that he was the rich man that stole from the poor man, Uriah.  David's sin against his "friend" Uriah and his indignation with the man in the parable is a great example of someone with tunnel vision.

We jump to conclusions many times when it comes to sin.  We immediately jump on the case of anyone that falls, many times not realizing that we've done things as well- but they were done in secret!  We get tunnel vision when a situation presents itself that can excuse us from our own guilt.  All of us are guilty of something.  Jesus said that we are not to judge hypocritically but many times we do.  We blast others when we are guilty of the same crimes.

As a Christian, we need to remember not to have tunnel vision when it comes to jumping too quickly to judge others.  We need to remember that we should not think we are something when we are nothing (Galatians 6:3).  We need to remember that if we are "standing" we need to take heed lest we fall (1 Cor 10:12).  We should not be so quick to judge others in light of our own sins.  Sure, there are some situations where sin has to be called out and exposed.  There are many people playing with God and pretending to be Christians, these folks need to be exposed.  Jude says that we are to contend for the faith.  By all means, charlatans and phonies need to be exposed so that they do not shipwreck the faith of true believers.  But there are other cases where those who are spiritual are to be restore the ones that fall with a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1).  Let us never get so haughty that we believe that we have arrived.  Philippians 1:6 says that the good work that began in us will be brought to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.  We don't arrive until we die or until Jesus returns.  That's enough to keep anyone humble.