2 Samuel 11:2-4a (NIV) 2One 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, 3and 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?" 4aThen David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.
In the spring, the kings would go out to war on the
enemies of their nations. Instead of going out with his army, David sent
his general, Joab. David remained in Jerusalem. It has been said that
an idle mind is the Devil's workshop. It sounds like David was sleeping
in and rose to do a little peeping on his neighbors from his roof. He
saw a beautiful woman bathing. Instead of turning his gaze, as would
have been appropriate, he continued to look. His mind dwelt on her
beauty, and he took the next step to ask who she is. The answer from his
servant should have been a wake up call, but then he took the next step
and had her summoned to his presence.
We can see the string of sins, each leading to a
greater one. In the season before, God had given David a great victory
over his enemies. Joab was leading the forces against an old enemy, the
Ammonites. Why had David decided to stay behind? He was not an old man.
Was his vacation from the war a purposeful choice to indulge himself in
some way? From the looking to the contemplation, to the asking, to the
invitation, David was sliding down a slippery slope.
The fall of many a man of God has the same sad story.
One sin leads to another. If at anytime in your life you decide to stop
fighting the enemy to indulge yourself, it won't be long before you find
yourself defeated. At any point, David could have stopped and realized
where he was headed. He would have avoided the devastating consequences.
Consider: He didn't choose to stop and so he paid the
price. Will you?
Evening
June 2
John 3:14-16 (NIV) 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake
in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that
everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16"For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
In trying to help Nicodemus to understand His mission,
Jesus related what He had come to do with a story from the Law (Numbers
21). Nicodemus studied the Law daily and would have immediately
understood the implications. When the Children of Israel were
complaining about their circumstances, God sent fiery serpents among
them. Those who were bitten died in a short time. Moses asked God what
he could do to save them. God told him to make a brazen serpent and put
it on a pole. Anyone that had been bitten could look at the image and be
healed. That is where the medical symbol of today comes from.
Jesus related this story to His mission. To be hung on
a pole was to be cursed according to the Law. The brass in the image
represented judgment. Jesus was saying that He would be cursed and
judged so that the sin sick world could look to Him and live.
Why? Because God loved the world so much that He was
willing to send His only Son to save the world from their certain death
condition. He was the only one who could take the curse and sins of the
world upon Himself and satisfy the justice of God. Those who lived
before Christ looked forward in time to what Jesus would do for them.
Those of us who live after the cross look back in time to what He did
there. We all gaze upon the cross and in believing are healed from this
deadly poison of sin. God so loved YOU that He gave His only Son, that
if YOU will believe in Him, YOU will not die from the poison of sin in
YOU. YOU will have eternal life.
Meditation: Put your name in place of "the world" and
"whosoever" in the 16th verse.
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