September 7, 2023

II Samuel 11: 1-27 . . . David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army . . . But David remained in Jerusalem. . . . One evening he got up from his bed . . . From the roof he saw a woman bathing. . . . David sent someone to find out about her. . . . the thing David had done displeased the Lord. [read the entire passage](NIV)

We often underestimate the extent to which the enemy seeks to disrupt our lives.*

This sordid chapter in the life of David could easily be made into an R-rated movie. It doesn’t seem fair that the Bible would include this story to taint the reputation of the man after God’s heart. But God’s word doesn’t spin, doesn’t cover up, doesn’t flinch. God has people, not robots.

David’s insomnia and Bathsheba’s bath, otherwise harmless activities, triggered a chain of unintended and tragic events. A change in routine and lack of accountability left David vulnerable to temptation. His temptation led to manipulation – abusing his power and compromising his principles – to get what he wanted. Cover-up, murder, and more cover-up followed.

But David didn’t get away with his big conspiracy. God knew everything and he was angry. I imagine his anger waxed hotter with David than it would have with someone else in the same circumstances – because his expectations of David were higher – and his rebuke was scathing: I gave you everything. And if that hadn’t been enough, I would have given you more! Why did you despise the word of the Lord? And then the hammer fell: The sword will never depart from your house. Calamity will befall you. Your household will be ripped apart. And everyone will know. Oh, and by the way: Your baby will die.

Someone has observed about David:  “For all times to come, both his sin and his return to the Lord became part of the Scriptures which would be read publicly.”* Pretty humiliating, wouldn’t you agree? Another writer suggests, though, that David would not have wanted his sin to be hidden because “he would not have wanted the record of his experience of God’s forgiveness hidden.”* So, perhaps, if he could speak to us today, David would give us an encouraging word about God’s willingness to forgive sin – but he would also remind us that sin has consequences, whether as a natural result of our actions or as discipline from God. Our attempts to deny and cover up our sin serve only to block the path to new life.

I think David would also caution us about the wiliness of Satan. All he needed to nudge David down the slippery slope of sin was David’s change of routine and his solitude. From there, all Satan had to do was to play on David's vanity, his weakness for a pretty face, and his latent sense of entitlement to bring down God’s man. Do not underestimate Satan’s knowledge of your weaknesses, David might warn us. He knows us better than we know ourselves!

The enemy knows our weaknesses, and he preys upon them. Demons smell human brokenness like sharks smell blood in the water, and they move in to take advantage of the weakened soul.*