I would imagine that you are like me and that a day doesn't go by when there are things that cross your mind. It happens to all of us and there are some of those things that seem to take up residence. Now our first impression might be to say that they are always bad things. However, that would not always be the case. Of course, if we are honest with ourselves we would have to admit, if even just to ourselves, it is often the bad stuff that seems to stake a claim and tries to use the squatters law to establish a home. If you do some research, you will find that in many places a squatter has more rights than the homeowner. With that they also do great damage to the property and why? Because it is not theirs and it costs them nothing so why not let it fall into disrepair? I mean they can always leave and go squat somewhere else and start all over.
Yes, I am using squatters as a way to make the point that there is an awful lot that comes into our minds and establishes a home just like a squatter. Uninvited but able to cause great havoc on the place it is staying.
Give this idea some consideration and you will see that that is how sin works in your life. You didn't invite it in but it showed up. The door was unlocked and no one saw it enter and it quickly made itself at home. Thoughts, ideas, and actions that led to habits and habits that became an addiction. That's right sin is an addiction. The sin might be a real-life addiction like gluttony, alcohol, drugs, pornography, or sex. You see these are the go-to's that most people might identify and are there more? Certainly, there could be promiscuity, lying, taking what is not yours, and cheating others. The list is as long as your arm or maybe longer. No, you might say, wait a minute I didn't wake up this morning doing those things or even let those things creep, in yet they are there.
How many of you remember David, the man after God's own heart? Revered and his praises were sung throughout the country. Yet, like so many and maybe even you, he was not where he was supposed to be. We read in 2 Samuel 11:1 NLT that-
1 In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
When we don't do what we should, we make ourselves prone to attack. It happened to David. Look at what occurred.
2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath.
3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
He could have stopped there and should have stopped there and asked the Lord to forgive him. He had looked and lusted and that was wrong but the problem is he didn't stop there.
4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home.
In many ways, we are all like David. We put ourselves in the wrong places and then we allow ourselves to be controlled by our desires.
If you know the story you know it didn't stop there for as we read verse 5 we are told that-
5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”
There is something very important to see here and that is that often it takes time for things to go terribly wrong. For David, it was one sin that led to another and thus the consequences of those sins.
David would continue to attempt to cover his sin. Read the rest of the eleventh chapter. David tries to cover the sin of her pregnancy by bringing Uriah her husband back from the battlefield. If you remember where we started that is exactly where he should have been. That does not work and then David has Uriah killed in battle. Eventually taking Bathsheba as his wife.
Natan confronts David in chapter 12 and David admits in the first part of verse 13-
13 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”...
I'm sure you know that the baby did die, even after David admitted his sin before God. David did what he could in asking the Lord to allow the child to live but he knew because Nathan had told him in chapter 12 in the later part of verse 13 and verse 14-
...Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin.
14 Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”
This is a tragic story and certainly not one that anyone would want to replicate in their life. Yet, we do it all the time. The situations and circumstances are different but the progressive sin is nonetheless real. Be careful each day as to what is happening in your life and why. Take care of how you live your life and what you allow yourself to engage in internally and externally. When the temptations come, and they will, just say NO!
In God's Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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