Part 1: The Sin

2 Samuel 11:1-5

In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

Over the next four devotions we will look at the life of David and Bathsheba, we will see: 1. The Sin, 2. the Scam, 3. the Shame, and 4. the Solution. Is this a story of judgment and condemnation, or a story of grace, restoration, and hope? I think we have somehow separated these in our minds, and for those willing to admit their sin and accept God’s judgment, grace, and restoration, we discover it is both. We must remember that God’s agenda is not to crush sinners under his feet, but to heal them and to restore their relationship with Him. Sin always affects our intimacy with God; Adam hid, Jonah fled, Peter denied.

Our last two posts dealt with David showing up to the battle field and boldly going out to meet the enemy giant Goliath. This was not the last battle David faced, and he becomes known as David the warrior-king. Yet “in the spring, at the time when kings go off to war” we find David hanging back from the battle and hanging out at the palace. He wasn’t where he was supposed to be; David’s place was with his armies not his amenities. Where are you hanging out? What if David had showed up to the battle, this whole incident would never have happened and he would not have lost the war. There have been many reasons suggested as to why David didn’t go out to the battlefield, but the bottom line is we will always loose the battle when we don’t show up! He wasn’t where he belonged, he was inactive, which is often the first step of a downhill slide. Are you in the battle or on the sidelines? There is a great danger when we become inactive in our spiritual life, when we don’t show up for battle. Not showing up is dangerous in any area of our life. Relationships fall apart because we don’t work at them. A beautiful garden is destroyed by neglect; a house crumbles around you if you don’t maintain it. Many people die prematurely because they neglecting their health. David’s son Solomon put it this way in Proverbs 24:33-34, “You sleep a little; you take a nap. You fold your hands and lie down to rest.  Soon you will be as poor as if you had been robbed” Are you going to show up? Are you where you are supposed to be or are you avoiding the battle?

David couldn’t sleep so one evening he gets out of bed and takes a stroll on the terrace. There’s no indication that David was “on the prowl,” but he wasn’t ready for the battle, he had already let his guard down and night time can be a dangerous time. Now he is up late looking at something he shouldn’t, his eyes should have be on the war not the woman. It’s hard to focus on what you need to when you’re in the wrong place looking at the wrong stuff.  One of the greatest battles you will ever face takes place on one of the smallest battle grounds, your mind.

I should point out here that, when viewed through the eyes of modern western civilization, it’s all too easy to conclude that Bathsheba shares in David’s guilt as a willing participant, or if nothing else, an immodest woman who had no business bathing where the King could see her. In that society’s governmental system, the King was the absolute authority. If Bathsheba was summoned to the King’s palace, then she came to the palace or risked execution for defying the King. As far as her bathing I’m sure she had no expectation that she would be seen, since the King was, after all, supposed to be on the battlefield with her husband. I don’t think David set out to commit an insidious sin, people seldom do, but because of his own decisions David ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, making one poor choice after another. It starts with David being lax, when he chooses not to go to war which leads to him looking, looking leads to lingering, which involves him inquiry as to who she is. Laxness, Looking and lingering lead him to lusting, and by the time he learned that she was married, David had already let lust get its nasty little hooks into his heart. In the Laxness, looking, lingering and lusting the battle is lost. Why are you losing the battle?  In our society we have a nice name for this we call it an affair, but let’s be honest, it’s adultery and people are getting hurt. David as king was supposed to be protecting God’s people by leading God’s army against the enemy. This is a case of him abusing his power and position for his own pleasure instead of others protection. Sin affects your serving, instead of serving others you end up serving self. As king he was supposed to be leading by example from the front, you can’t lead from the back. Is it time to step up and get alone with God?

1 Samuel 17:33-51

33 “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.” 34 But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 35 I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36 I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! 37 The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!” Saul finally consented. “All right, go ahead,” he said. “And may the Lord be with you!” 38 Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. 39 David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul. “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off again. 40 He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd’s bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine. 41 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, 42 sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. 43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44 “Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!” Goliath yelled. 45 David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47 And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!” 48 As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. 49 Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for he had no sword. 51 Then David ran over and pulled Goliath’s sword from its sheath. David used it to kill him and cut off his head.

While the rest of the army was cowering in fear, David stepped forward to face the battle  As you get ready to face your giant, there are some things David teaches us that you need to remember.

• Ignore the doubts expressed by the faithless around you. 17:33.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win!

Saul expresses his doubts and fears. People will tell you, “Just quit, It’s impossible, you will never win you’ll never get that ministry off the ground, you will never conquer that addiction. Satan loves to whisper those doubts in our ears and he will use others in the army to spread doubt! The question becomes, who are you going to listen to? What has God told you, do you believe Him?

• Remember what God has done in your past” 17:34-37

The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!

David’s story concerned a lion and a bear trying to steal some sheep out of his flock, but when they attacked, God delivered both beasts into his hand. What David is reminding us to do here is to remember that the same God who has answered prayers before, who parted a sea, who stopped the sun from setting, who raised the dead, who provided a ram caught in the thicket, who has done all these things–HE IS STILL GOD! Just because your situation has changed doesn’t mean He has! David remembers his God story, do you remember yours?

• Don’t fight your battles in other people’s armor. 17:38-39

“Then Saul gave David his own armor…..I can’t go in these,” he protested to Saul.”

God will provide us with what we need, too often people have a little success and they try to dress you up in what they used. The problem in the church is that we spend more time reading other’s books about how they did it than God’s book on how to do it. Its ok to read how everyone else has done it and principles are fine but when we try to duplicate them piece for piece we find they don’t fit, often it’s not a one size fits all. The battle that David was about to fight was one where he needed speed and mobility, not the protection of armor. He was fighting an offensive battle not a defensive one, a fight where he brought the battle to the enemy.  Goliath had been taunting them for 40 days, this was not a time for cautious defensive posturing in heavy armor, it was time to bring it! We are called to fight the good fight and we are called to do it wearing God’s armor.

• Act boldly in the face of intimidating circumstances. 17:43-48

48 “As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him.”

When everything has been believed, the doubters dismissed, his God story remembered, the time came to act. Everything that had been shared up to this point is meaningless if it is not acted upon, Goliath must be faced, he must be confronted. Whether your Goliath is a present dilemma or pain carried over from your past, it is time to face it. There is a time to speak truth and there is a time to act on that truth, David didn’t just talk about courage and faith, he acted on it.

• Remember whose battle it really is. 17:46-47

“Today the Lord will conquer you….This is the Lord’s battle”

We need to run out to face the enemy but we need to make sure that we don’t run ahead of God in the process. We do not fight the battle in our own strength but His. Many times we start out in His strength but somewhere on the way to the battlefield we try to take over. Are you ready to do battle? Is it time to face the giant in your life?  Are you running ahead of God? Maybe it’s time to get alone with God.