Use these questions for personal reflection or in a small group. 

When did you need the grace of God in forgiveness this week?   


Read 2 Sam. 12. Nathan tells a story before he names David’s sin. Why might God have chosen to expose David this way, and when has an honest word from someone who loved you uncovered something you were avoiding? 

 


David went months without confessing. Which of these is most familiar to you when you have done wrong: diversion (“Look at what I did right”), distraction (“Look at what was done to me”), or minimizing (“It wasn’t that bad”)? What does the repentant alternative sound like? (2 Sam. 12:1-15) 

 


Sin is treason, shattering, and shrapnel. Which of those three do we tend to take most seriously and which do we overlook? How does seeing the damage to other people change the way we think about repentance?  
(2 Sam. 12:9-14) 

 

 

Nathan came for salvation, not condemnation. How does it change the way you view the hard moments when God exposes something in you to know that his purpose is to bring us into the light? (1 John 1:5-10) 

 

 

Read Psalm 51 slowly. What does David ask God to do, and what does he not do? How does that sound different from the way we usually talk when we are caught?  How does the Psalm speak to the reversal of the power of sin (ie. Treason, Shattering, Shrapnel)? 

 

 

David could not undo what had happened, and the consequences reached into his household. Where are you carrying consequences you cannot reverse, and how does the cross and resurrection of Jesus speak into that place? (2 Sam. 12:15-23). How can you pray with and for one another in light of it? 

 

 

Around a TABLE with friends this week ask… 

Questions: When are you tempted to defend, minimize, or hide my sin instead of confessing it?  
Is it based on the nature of the sin itself, or on who was affected, or on the consequences? 

Passage:  Psalm 51:1-12. Read it aloud together and notice what David asks God to do. 

Promise: 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”