We spent some time in the last post talking about Saul and David. Saul was God’s perfect choice for king. David was God’s plan B and only became king because of Saul’s sin in the second year of his reign.
Saul did not cooperate with God. This resulted in him being disqualified from the plan of God.
There are people who say that God is sovereign and in control of everything. If this were true then how could Saul have disqualified himself from the plan of God?
It was God’s will for Moses to lead the children of Israel into their promised land. Moses sinned and missed the plan of God. Joshua was plan b but God raised him up and he succeeding in leading the people into the promised land.
Moses was disqualified from fulfilling the plan of God. We cannot criticize him though because he was still able to accomplish more than most people will in their lifetime. He just was unable to fulfill the final stretch of God’s plan for his life.
Jesus is the only person who has ever walked this planet without sinning one. God has never had a single human being who was able to perfectly fulfill His plan. I do not believe that any of us have been able to reach our full potential but that should not stop us from trying.
God will take what little we submit to Him and use it to accomplish His will. The more we submit to Him, the more He will have to work with.
There are people who will read these words that feel as if they have messed up their lives. God can take our mess and turn it around if we will just submit to Him. For illustration let’s look at the account of David’s sin with Bathsheba.
And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
2 Samuel 11:1-5
Countries did not have the abilities of modern armies. They could not easily wage war in the winter and so would usually wait until the spring. David was king and his place was with the army. If he had done so then the story of his sin with Bathsheba would not have been included in the account of his life.
David had become prosperous. He had generals and mighty men who could lead the arm and so stayed home. He was not doing what God had called him to do when he saw Bathsheba bathing.
When David was running from Saul he sought God with his whole heart. He was afraid for his life but when he achieved a level of prosperity and had subdued his enemies, David became comfortable. The lesson we can draw from his life is that our greatest temptations will always come when we are successful.
Hardships are not the worst things that happen in our lives. A person with even a minimal commitment to God will seek Him when times are tough. I believe that the greatest test of our character is found when we are successful.
Are we seeking God at the same level when things are going well and we do not have to? It is the period when everything is going well and nothing seems wrong that will reveal our commitment to God. Will we continue to seek Him as strongly as we did when things were tough and we had to believe him to get to the end of the month?
I encourage you to examine your own life. When do you seek God the most? Do you spend as much time in prayer and the Word when things are going smoothly as when you are in need? These are questions each one of us must answer for our own lives.
People tend to talk about God more in times of disaster and trouble. I live in the US state of Florida and have noticed that hurricanes are able to make even the most hardened sinner talk about God!
We are at our greatest level of vulnerability when things are going good. This is because we tend not to recognize our need for God at these times.
David stayed at home and sent his generals to battle without him.
And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house…
It appears as if David had slept the entire day since he did not even get out of bed until “eveningtide”. He was not doing what he should have been and appears to have been bored. If he had been fulfilling his duties as king this would not have been the case.
There is a saying in our society that says an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. This is not Scripture but it does contain a lot of truth. David was bored when he saw Bathsheba and committed adultery.
Bathsheba was married to one of David’s mighty men which are listed in 2 Samuel 23. David should have humbled himself in repentance but instead tried to hide his sin by calling her husband back from battle.
And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? 11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. 12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. 13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. 14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. 16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were. 17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
2 Samuel 6-17
David sent for one of his greatest generals hoping that Uriah would have relations Bathsheba and cover his sin. Uriah was such a noble man that he refused to even sleep with his wife while the armies were fighting. He slept at David’s doorstep instead of his own bed.
When Uriah refused to cooperate David ordered the general of his armies to send Uriah to the front. This was a death sentence which was ordered solely to cover the kings sin.
The Bible tells us that David was a man after God’s own heart. The story of his sin with Bathsheba reveals that even a person as committed to God as David can get off track. Just as he was at his weakest when everything was going right so are we today.
Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil.
Ephesians 4:27
We need to keep these things in mind. The devil is looking for any opportunity to lead us down the wrong path just as he did with David. Each one of us will seek God when under pressure but most of us will taper off in our commitment to doing so when things are going well.
It is when things are going well that we must discipline ourselves to seek God even more than in the tough times. David got off track, committed adultery, and then committed murder.
And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
2 Samuel 11:26-27
David sinned and then had a man murdered to cover his sin. This upset God. We will discuss the consequences in our next post.
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