2 Samuel 11:1-5
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
David was one of the greatest followers of God who ever lived, a "man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22). Yet he fell into serious sexual sin. This should serve as a warning lest we get overconfident about our strength to resist temptation. If David could fall into sexual sin, so can you or I. One of the roots of David's temptation was probably boredom. He wasn't at the battle with his fellow soldiers (verse 1), instead he was wandering around on the roof, looking for some amusement (verse 2). We need to beware the subtle temptations of boredom, when we lose sight of God's purposes for our life. For then we are susceptible to the wrong purposes of the enemy. David should have been off with the soldiers, and when he first saw Bathsheba he should have looked away, and when he found out she was married he should have turned away, but he did none of those things. Instead he ignored the Lord and the Lord's commands, and just followed his own fleshly desires.
Heavenly Father, I confess to sometimes struggling with boredom and wanting some excitement. Help me to always be diligent about resisting temptation.
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
David was one of the greatest followers of God who ever lived, a "man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22). Yet he fell into serious sexual sin. This should serve as a warning lest we get overconfident about our strength to resist temptation. If David could fall into sexual sin, so can you or I. One of the roots of David's temptation was probably boredom. He wasn't at the battle with his fellow soldiers (verse 1), instead he was wandering around on the roof, looking for some amusement (verse 2). We need to beware the subtle temptations of boredom, when we lose sight of God's purposes for our life. For then we are susceptible to the wrong purposes of the enemy. David should have been off with the soldiers, and when he first saw Bathsheba he should have looked away, and when he found out she was married he should have turned away, but he did none of those things. Instead he ignored the Lord and the Lord's commands, and just followed his own fleshly desires.
Heavenly Father, I confess to sometimes struggling with boredom and wanting some excitement. Help me to always be diligent about resisting temptation.