Wednesday, February 16

Because he Looked

I must always give honour to whom it is due: This title was inspired by Fiyisola, a teenager in Teenage Development Centre of This Present House.
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 I wish I could make this really short!
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The nation was at war (school is out, you are on vacation, there is a lull in your schedule) but David choose (for some reason, who knows what that could be??) to remain at home. David was idle. He had trusted men that could take on the nations that are tempted to take Israel down. David trusted them to fight.

Then one evening he woke up (in the evening, he had lazed all day, walked around the palace after breakfast, took a brief nap before lunch, then went back to sleep until the early hours of the evening) and taking a stroll around the penthouse, he saw this beauty bathing...  he didn’t look away, it is rude to watch a naked woman bathe but David was idle! He was at loss what to do with himself, he needed something to occupy the time he has at hand!

So, he inquired after who she was, further and further he went, treading this path of destruction that would bring hell down on his house, for generations to come,  after he was told who she was, the wife of one of his soldiers who was on the war front! David went further to execute his plans…he sent for her, and slept with her! Hmmm.

After a while,  consequences came calling, aunt Bath became pregnant. But David was not finished o. He had to do something to cover up this dastardly act, so he hatched another plan to hide it! One lie will always lead to another, and another, and another….anyway, David concocted this thriller; to bring home the woman’s husband, have him sleep with her (he must have thought that all men were as dishonourable as he was) But, hello! his plans fell apart because Uriah proved to be a man of integrity! He daren’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t go home to the comfort of his wife’s arms when men were fighting on the battlefront, oh no! that just wouldn’t do. What?  King Dave, are you out of your mind? Go home?

But David still wasn’t done!! He was determined to do whatever it took to make this problem go away, so he sent, by the hand of Uriah himself, a letter to Joab, Commander of the army on the battle front, asking the latter to put him, Uriah, at the hottest part of the battle so that he could be killed…his plan worked, Uriah died. Shortly after, David took this pregnant woman, and made her his wife. You all know this story. Hmm, why did the woman fall ‘prey’ to all these? That is another blog entirely.

God was completely displeased by David’s action and would not accept it. So He told David exactly what punishments he would suffer. I like God, He doesnt hide his own agenda. But why did He allow David to go so far before he sent Nathan the prophet? Because He has given us a powerful weapon, choice. He has granted us the freedom to decide for ourselves exactly what we want, but when we approach Him for guidance, He is always there to lead us in the right way. He watched David play with his choice and when David felt that he had cleaned out his mess, and that he was safe, God was like, oh no! You aren’t going scot free!

This simple idea of ‘having nothing to do’, of being idle, of being at the wrong place at the wrong time,  the ‘little’ pleasures we allow ourselves to indulge in lead to David’s great fall! His action brought about such grave consequences upon his family it is unbelievable. God forgave him but promised that the sword will never depart from his house. Subsequently, the child conceived in that union with Bathsheba died, then his son (Ammon) raped his sister (David’s daughter, Tamar), then Tamar's direct brother (Absalom) killed Ammon,  then the former staged a very successful coup against his father, the latter was briefly dethroned and had to flee, once more as a fugitive, from his own son! The same son slept with all his father's concubine in full view of Israel (oh yeah, God did say that would happen). And so on and so on. All because ‘David  looked’….

What am I looking at today? What have I allowed my ‘idleness’ to lead me into? Am I in the right place at the right time? What things do I indulge in that are meant to corrode my mind, disrupt my good intentions, and lead me on a pathway that returning from can only take will and the grace of God?

Having succumbed to these wiles of the enemy, having fallen into the dark abyss of sin, what lies, what steps am I taking to cover that first lie?
What am I looking at?? (Have you noticed how I am not asking you this questions?? I am trying to work out my salvation….

Be free oh...afterall "it was for freedom that Christ has set us free...no longer to be subject to the yoke of slavery..." abi?

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful and well written piece about temptation and it's consequences. An absolute must read! Truly sent shivers down my spine.

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  2. This is awesome!! I was really ministered to. It's like I was reading the story for the first time.

    Thanks!

    Blossom

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