One of my most viewed blogs over the past decade is The Second Glance. Yet, this is only the beginning of the demise of King David. According to 2 Samuel 11, David’s second glance at a naked women led to sexual relations with a married woman. When Israel’s king wasn’t able to cover up Bathsheba’s pregnancy as he initially planned, David gave orders to for Uriah to go off on a suicide mission resulting in his death.
In the spring, when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab with his servants and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites [country] and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, when from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very lovely to behold, 2 Samuel 11:1-2.
When I was a member of the Spiritual Life Committee at Red Lion Christian Academy, I took a group of senior high students to an annual retreat. During one of these conferences, the keynote messages was based upon the consequences of sin. Using Romans 7 as a reference, the speaker claimed that sin will cost you more than you ever expected, sin will captivate your attention longer than you planned, and sin will make you stay beyond the time you intended. This is exactly what happened to King David.
David sent and inquired about the woman. One said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent messengers and took her. And she came in to him, and he lay with her—for she was purified from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house, 2 Samuel 11:3-4.
Christian artist Kenny Marks sings about a similar fall from grace in his 1986 hit The Party’s Over. Kenny writes about a rendezvous that two students have at a high school party. Like the start of any romance, infatuation leads to lust, lust triggers passion, and uninhibited passion leads a young woman to give her virginity away. Like David and Bathsheba, this one stand conceived a child placed into a no-win situation.
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, Put Uriah in the front line of the heaviest fighting and withdraw from him, that he may be struck down and die, 2 Samuel 11:14-15.
Sin turns a curious child into a rebellious prodigal. If you don’t have anyone to hold you accountable for your actions, you’ll end up like a wayward son or daughter on the highway to hell, Matthew 7:13-14. When sin becomes full blown, James 1:15, Christians end up like the apostle Paul in Romans 7:15-16, under the influence of sinful addictions. Before this gets out of hand like David’s situation, confess your sins and turn back to Jesus today, James 5:16. Go now and leave your life of sin before it ruins your life.
by Jay Mankus
ExpressYourself4Him 