The Slippery Slope

The Slippery Slope
Words of Faith 2-3-25
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2025
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
2 Samuel 11:1-4
[1] 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.
How does moral disaster happen? How does a person find themselves doing the unthinkable? This is the chapter and verse on that decline. David was the greatest of all Israel's kings and went down the hardest when he fell. In the course of his downward slide from temptation into sin, David did things he surely never dreamed he would do and disobeyed three of the Ten Commandments-- "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife" -- "You shall not commit adultery"-- "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:17, 14, 13).
It started in the spring. The rains of the winter were over. This was when it was customary to resume military activity if a campaign was underway. It was also customary for kings to "go off to war" with the army, that is, to be away from home and near the front at a command center where the action was to take place. But this spring was different.
David sent the army off to war while he remained in the palace. The military leaders and soldiers went off again to fight the Ammonites. Joab, the army commander, was a nephew of David's who became a strong military leader. He came to be called the "prince of the king's army" because of a heroic victory in which he stormed the fortress on Mount Zion. But he also had a dark side. Joab had assassinated Abner, the commander of Saul's army, in retaliation for the deaths of his brothers.
In this time of leisure, while others were doing the job he was supposed to be doing, David was first distracted, then tempted, and then snared in sexual sin. It was never a matter that David was somehow deprived. He had several wives and available concubines. But in this idle time, David allowed lust to enter in as he coveted the wife of another.
David first noticed Bathsheba while she was bathing. She may have been involved in a ritual bath that indicated it was a the month when she was ritually "clean." He allowed his eye and mind to dwell on Bathsheba. Next,, David inquired of Bathsheba, at which point he found out that she was another man's wife. Nevertheless, he sent messengers to get her. He slept with her and sent her back home.
David probably thought he had gotten away with this sin. Of course, he had not. What were the mistakes David made? At what point might he have stopped this progression toward sin?
The first mistake David made was not being where he was supposed to be. He had responsibilities to the military campaign. He also had family he should have been attending to. This is more than "idle hands are the devil's playground." Leisure time needs to be directed toward things that are godly and wholesome. David had apparently given up the writing of poetry for a time. He had stopped playing the lyre.
The next mistake was when he lingered on the roof after realizing there was a tempting view. This was the time to turn away before the look turned into lust.
The next mistake was the curious inquiry. David may even have justified this in his mind by saying there was no harm in asking a few questions. At some point, however, he was in over his head. David learned that this was not only another man's wife, but the wife of one of his soldiers. If ever there was a time to turn back, this was it. But David continued.
David sent for Bathsheba. He may have thought to himself that he would chat with her or perhaps encourage her in the lonely time of separation. But in the end, this was a sin in the making.
At every step along the way, David had an opportunity to turn back. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians -- No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Cor. 10:13).
Are you in a place of temptation? The only hope is to change what you are doing. If you are in the wrong place, get to the right place. If your eye is caught, divert it. If your will is corrupt, surrender it.
Father God, sanctify me by Your grace. Lead me not into the place of temptation but deliver me from the evil one. Give me the power to turn aside, turn away, and turn back. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< ><> <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2025
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2025 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.
More in Daily Devotional
February 7, 2025
In Defense of BathshebaFebruary 6, 2025
Murder by WarFebruary 5, 2025
Setting the Slide Aside