May 14, 2014 - Wednesday

Start Time: 5:38 A.M.

End Time: 6:42 A.M.

Title: David and Bathsheeba

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:1 – 27

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ 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.  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, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”  Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.  The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

NOTES:

Ø God is warning us that when we are too comfortable with our success, it is when the devil strikes!  David and Bathsheeba’s story was written for a purpose and God wants us to learn from it.  The Israelites were in the middle of a war and David as the king, decides to stay at home rather than go with God’s people to fight their enemies.  Here we can see that David became too comfortable with the successes he received.  God Himself go with us when we face our battles, at times, He goes before us.  But in this story, we see a different David.  David knows that his people is in the middle of a battle yet he decided to stay and rest in his temple.  God does not do this to us.  He does not leave us behind.  He always has our backs.  And so when David fell on the enticing offer of resting instead of fighting, that’s when he allowed the devil to take a hold of a weakness.  There he saw Bathsheeba, taking a bath in the middle of the night and out of the lust of the flesh, David took advantage of the opportunity that no one is around for everyone is in battle.  He slept with Bathsheeba and therefore sinned against men and against God.  And that sin bore a child!  We have to be sensitive to God and not put our own convenience first than helping the people of God fight their enemies.  At times, we would rather care less and not mind ourselves with the problem of our brothers and sisters because it’s none of our business we say.  Yet God makes it His business and if we are God’s representatives, it should be ours too!

→ So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”  Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,^[a] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

NOTES:

Ø God reminded David of what he did wrong through Uriah but David was so consumed of the result of his sin that he didn’t hear it.  He was too focused finding a solution on his own to the problem he caused.  When we sin, we can’t see the truth because we are too caught up finding a human fix to the problem we created.  So our ears are shut to God’s counsel and our minds are closed to what we learned from the past, how we are depended to God.  When we do sin, we are to open our ears and minds to God’s counsel not focus on what our efforts can do because it will fail.  It takes a supernatural act for man to sin (the devil needs to insert a temptation and convince us to do what he wants – this only happens with the aid of the supernatural) so it takes the God of the Supernaturals, Jesus, the Lord Himself, to put a stop to it.  Man who is focused on the physical will not be able to fix this.  We need God’s help all the more.  So we should run to Him and not away from Him.

→ So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. Joab sent David a full account of the battle. He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth^[b]? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”

NOTES:

Ø God is teaching us that when we are clouded by our sin and we are focus of fixing things on our own because of what we did (sin), our actions lead to impact others negatively as well.  David made a mistake and when he tried to fix it in a subtle way, he failed so he took matters as hard as he could and asked someone else to place Uriah at the frontline of the battlefield.  Joab knew that this decision was not right but as his king, he obeyed david’s wishes.  Know that when we try to resolve our sins on our own, we put others in jeopardy as well.  We place them in a situation that they themselves are uncomfortable doing because they know that it is not right.

Ø Joab on the other hand, showed great obedience to his king that even when he was not comfortable with the king’s wish, he obeyed it.  At times, it is better for us to obey even when we are not in agreement to the other person.  Know where we stand and always remember that respect to the man of God is much greater than disobedience to him.

→The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.” When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

 NOTES:

Ø God knew the heart of Joab, that’s why he protected him.  David was feeling pleased of the report even though he lost some men because of his wrong desire to kill Uriah so he comforted joab and let him know that his decision was okay.  Joab was also very detailed with what happened, knowing that it was the king’s request.  So as you can see, the details of account was in favor of Joab and though, it covered David’s sin from revealing to the people, it was totally exposed to God on the other hand.  Everything cover-up we make for our sins only exposed it fully to God.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, Gracious and Marvelous Lord.  Thank You because You always have our backs and You our the source of all our victories.  However Lord, I pray that You will put my foot on the ground always despite of all the successes I receive that I may remember that these successes are Yours and not mine.  So that I will not be too comfortable with it to a point that I will leave others on the battlefield when Your heart is to support and have our backs always.  Lord, remind me always that sin is an act from the supernatural and to resolve it, it only takes You, the God of the supernaturals.  So when I sin, I must go to You and You alone for You are the only solution and the opposite direction.  Lord thank You because You taught me that obedience is rewarded and even when the command is questionable, help me to make the right decisions on how to deal with it.  Thank You because I know that with Your guidance, I will be protected and always remind me Lord that trying to cover up sin from men will only fully exposed it to my God.  Thank You Lord for Your word of Wisdom today.  May I live it and bring to life in my life today.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!