Nourishing And Cherishing
In the story of David, Bathsheba, and Uriah, Nathan told David a story of a man who had one ewe lamb. That man bought and nourished it. The lamb grew up with him and his children. It ate his own food, drank from his own cup, and laid its head in his lap. It was like a daughter to him. He cherished his lamb.
Conversely, there was a man who had a flock with many sheep. He had a visitor. Instead of taking from his own flock, he took the poor man’s one ewe lamb and prepared it for the stranger. Nothing is said about the man nourishing or feeding this lamb. He took what was not his. He took and used the poor man’ s lamb for his own selfish use. The rich man showed no interest of investing himself for the good of the poor man’s lamb. The lamb was used to satisfy his own lascivious desire. It did not eat at his table, nor did it lay it’s head in the rich man’s lap.
This story is so sad on so many levels. But focus on the contrast between the feeding, nourishing, and caring of the poor man of his one ewe lamb and the abuse of the rich man. One man served for the good of his lamb. The other cared only about his own needs.
Consider how a husband is to love his wife. He is to love his wife as he nourishes and cherishes himself (Eph. 5:28-29). The word nourish means "to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary for life, health, and growth" (dictionary.com). The word cherish means "to hold or treat as dear; feel love for, to care for tenderly; nurture, or to cling fondly or inveterately to" (dictionary.com).
Men, we are good at sustaining or promoting our own growth. We are good at supporting our wants and wishes, as well as fulfilling our dreams. How well do we nourish our wives? Men, we are good at protecting ourselves and caring for ourselves. How well do we cherish, deeply and resolutely, our wives?
What if we began to love our wives as we love ourselves? What if we put the same effort we use supporting, maintaining, and promoting our own growth into our relationship with our wives? What if we spent the same time, money, and effort entertaining deep love, holding and showing affection to our wives we do for ourselves? What if we spent the same time investing ourselves in the care for her that we do for ourselves?
Are we like David? Do we simply use her for what we want, or do we deeply care about her? Do we really invest ourselves in her well-being as Uriah did for his one ewe lamb? Does she know how much we cherish her? Do we demonstrate how much we want to nourish her?
Don’t you think that if David had regarded Bathsheba this way, he would never have used her as he did? He would never have taken her from Uriah. Oh what a difference it would have made in his family.