God Encounters / True Worship

The last  post we began to  will deal with Jesus and His encounter with the woman at the well.  What we saw was that Jesus went through Samaria because He had a divine appointment with the woman at the well.  Jesus was reaching out to this woman who was an outcast in a whole region of outcast.  Jesus was willing to defile himself so that he could reach out to this woman.  If you do not know the story click here and read it.

Let me pick up from the last post and ask: why was this woman considered an outcast among outcasts? Why would she have to come in the heat of the day to get water? It comes down to her sin which Jesus addresses – she has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her husband. What we understand from this is she has been engaged in a series of illicit relationships, and she was not married to her current lover. Sexual relations outside of marriage are forbidden in both Testaments and by the way this has not changed and Jesus addresses this issue with this woman.

In Jesus addressing this we see that in God encounters, God tells the truth in love (17–18). What happens when Jesus tells her the truth in love? She does not react defensively and it is very significant that she does not react defensively to Jesus’ knowledge of her broken relationships. After Jesus confronts these relationships she then calls Jesus a prophet which affirms Jesus. What the woman does is focuses on who Jesus is because of what He says to her and does not get defensive. So her attention remains on Jesus’ person even though her sinful life is being confronted by Jesus. This focus on Jesus is a key characteristic of true faith. When you are confronted about your sin – how do you react? Do you immediately point out the sin of the other person or look to Jesus? She looked to Jesus and realized her sinfulness.

I believe this all happened because Jesus encountered her with the truth in a loving way and he did not judge her because of her past – he just pointed it out in a loving way that what she was engaged in was wrong. Do you treat people with love? Do you tell people the truth in love? Consider for a moment this quote by Warren Wiersbe – “Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.” Are you brutal with people? Are practicing hypocrisy? Let us all tell the truth but do it in love as we are told in to Ephesians 4:15.

Something else that we see in this story with this woman is that God encounters bring about true worship (23). First thing we need to realize is that in verse 20 the woman is asking where should she worship, in Jerusalem which is where the Jews worship or on Mount Gerizim which is where the Samaritans made their offerings. Jesus reveals to the woman that where a person worships is unimportant. It is not limited to a place but we should worship in spirit and in truth. Jesus is letting her know that the worship of the Father is not confined to a place but is an action of heart. Jesus also is letting her know that all worship must be in keeping with the truth of God’s revealed Word. Jesus tells her and tells us that God is spirit and those who worship him must worship Him in spirit and truth. You cannot worship in any other way.

To worship in spirit means you are concerned with the spiritual realities, not outward sacrifices, cleansings and how beautiful things look or what is done around you but what is happening inside. It is not about what is on the outside but what is going on in the inside – the Pharisees looked great on the outside but were filthy on the inside according to Jesus. Are you a Pharisee when it comes to worship? To worship in truth means you worship according to the whole council of God’s word, especially in light of the New Testament revelation of Jesus. We worship in the truth of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. Let me ask you – are you worshipping in the spirit and in truth that God says to or are you worshiping what you want to think is right? We must worship the way God says not what our preferences are!

What do you believe that it means to worship in spirit and in truth?  How are you at telling the truth in love?

Complaining Comes With Punishment

We have been looking at the sin of complaining by looking at the children of Israel in Numbers 21.  We looked in the last two posts at verses 4 and 5 which say:  4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. 5 The people spoke against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.  Today let us look on and see what happens in verses 6 and 7.

There is a price to pay for sin and now we will see how God chooses to deal with the children of Israel and their sinfulness and rebellion toward Him as heard in their complaining. 6 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

We see here that in all truth – God killed the complainers. The Lord sent the serpents and He was punishing them for their sinfulness toward Him and Moses. When I look and see the punishment, I see three things.

Divine – Their punishment was definitely from God. You hear of venomous reptiles all through that area they were walking but there is no reference to anyone being bitten till here. The verse tells us that God sent the serpents – these are from God – He is judging their sinful complaining!

Just – They had unjustly complained against God and Moses. Many of them concluded that they should die in the wilderness and God justly gave them what they thought would happen but not the way they thought it would happen. God was just in the punishment He gave.

Severe – The bite of the serpent caused a fiery and intense burning and filled the body with poison which resulted in death. Many died in this painful way because of their complaining.

We need to be so very careful about our complaining. I do not necessarily believe that God will send serpents among us but I do believe that God takes it seriously and he will still bring about chastisement upon those who do it and if you want to see if God does such a thing, read about God chastising in Hebrews 12 of the ones he loves.

What did this punishment bring about? It brought about a change in the peoples thinking and their attitudes. Verse 7 says: So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

Punishment came and their attitudes changed and their thinking changed. People are dying because of their sinful attitudes and their complaining. You might not die physically but emotionally many of you have died because of your sinful attitudes and sinful speaking! You need repentance and that is the point that the children of Israel come to here – they come and repent of their sinfulness.

Look at how repentance was brought about in their lives: first Repentance came about by the punishment. – When God began to kill them he got their attention. God will do what it takes to get our attention because He loves us and desires that we repent of our sinful attitudes and ways and turn to him.

Secondly their repentance led them to appeal to Moses for help. Their request had implications. We see that they believed in intercessory prayer – having others pray for you. Then they also realized that effective prayer comes from those who are excellent in character and conduct like Moses was.

Thirdly, Moses prayed to God on their Behalf. He blessed them that complained against him. Look at the type of man that Moses was, he treated with love and respect, those who treated him with disrespect. An example for us all us!

As we pause again and reflect on the last couple of verses do you see any changes you need to make in life? Does God need to bring about fiery serpents in your life to bring you back to him? Do you have the character and conduct that people will come to you for help even after they treated you poorly? Do you have faith in intercessory prayer – are you willing to ask others to pray for you when you are going through a hard time? These are questions that you should be answering with God. Today is the day to make changes if there are changes in your life that need to be made. The way to start is seeking God in prayer and He will answer and begin to help you to change and get away from your complaining ways.

What are your thoughts on all this?  How do you think God deals with complainers these days?

Sensual sins are the Worst?

During a period of study I came across these verses:  Colossians 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.

Paul in this set of verses gives two lists of sins.  He give a list of sensual sins and then a list of sin that are seen in attitude, action, and word.  When some people read through those two list they dismiss the first list of sensual sins because they are not a problem for them.  You see some people think they are fine because they do not struggle with the sensual sins listed.  Truth be told though many more struggle with them than you will ever know because people are fearful to say that struggle in those sensual areas.  The sensual sins are inward ones and people do not act it out in a way that too many, if anyone see it or know about it.  The thing is they do know  and  they know because of the thoughts in their minds and in the things they look at and/or watch. In the second list that that Paul has here are sins that are seen clearly in people’s lives but the funny thing is we see them not as bad as that list of sensual sins by most people.

Here is the deal, we see sexual sins as being so very bad but this second list of sins that Paul gives – anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, and lying well we regard these as the “little” sins that can really be overlooked if they are not too out of control. This comes down to an attitude that is prevalent and very dangerous and that is that some sins are worse than others.

Let me ask you some questions.  Which sin did Jesus die more for: the adultery that someone commits or the lie that some tells?  Did Jesus die more for the gossip you share or the evil sexual desire that some has?  Did Jesus die more for the slanderous words about others or the lustful thoughts people have? The truth of the matter is Jesus died for all of it just the same. In our humanness we want to make one sin worse than another but it is not the way it is in the heavenly realms. Jesus died just as much for the lie you tell as the adultery and murder that someone else does. It is all the same – there is no degree of sin.

Here is what I see.   We in our humanness dislike or are repulsed more by some sins than other but they are no worse than any other sin. Jesus died for it all and in truth all sin is repulsive to Him. So do yourself a favor and never ever think yourself better than someone because of a sin they do or did and you never did, because if you do, you are discounting your own sinfulness and the sacrifice of Christ for it all.

Any thoughts on the idea of degree’s of sin?  Do you think so sins are worse than others?

Was it all for nothing?

As I was preparing to preach from 2 Samuel 12 – I hit the following verses:

¹⁶ David therefore inquired of God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ The elders of his household stood beside him in order to raise him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them.  ¹⁸ Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to our voice. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might  do himself harm!”  ¹⁹ But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 

Now the context of this is David has been confronted by Nathan on his sins (affair with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah) and then confesses and repents.  He finds out that he is forgiven and he will not die (because his sins were punishable by death according to the Law) but finds out part of his consequence for his sin is that his son will die.  He then takes his response to this news that his son will die to God which is where he should have gone with it.

We see that he pleads for his son to God to  be saved.   David we see not only cries out and pleads but also fasted and lay on the ground seeking God.  I came across this comment:  Extraordinary prayer and fasting are not tools to get whatever we want from God. They are demonstrations of radical submission and surrender to God’s power and will.  The picture is that of David crying out to God and fasting.  In the middle of it David is surrendering himself to God.  David because of these sins David’s heart got out of line with God’s heart, but because of his pleading, crying, and fasting God then is able to align David’s heart with His heart again.

Then we come across the fact that 0n the seventh day the child dies – David has spent these seven days on the ground crying out to God, pleading to God and fasting before God but the child still died.  He did all this and his child still died – so I wonder and I ask you:

Was it all for nothing?  

Here is my response to this question:  This shows that prayer and fasting does not change God’s mind all the time but what it did here was put David’s heart in the right place with God.  Prayer and fasting does not force God to do anything but it shows God our willingness to connect with Him over an issue or struggle or sin in our lives and allows Him to put our hearts where they need to be which is aligned with His.

What is your response to the question – the pleading, crying, and fasting before God – was it all for nothing?  Do you see a connection in your own life?

The Set Up When Confronting

Continuing on in 2nd Samuel 12:1-6.  Yesterday we started looking at confrontation and specifically the confrontation of David by Nathan.  Let us look at how Nathan confronted David.

And he came to him and said, "There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.2 "The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. 3 "But the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb Which he bought and nourished; And it grew up together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup and lie in his bosom, And was like a daughter to him. 4 "Now a traveler came to the rich man, And he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd, To prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him; Rather he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

So we have Nathan tell David this story of two men. One was rich and had many flocks, many herds. There was also a poor man who had one little ewe lamb. It was part of his family. It slept with him, ate with him, it was like a son or daughter to him. And David, being a shepherd, must have felt the love that this man had for this little ewe lamb. God knew exactly what buttons to push on David in this story. Nathan emphasizes the fact that the poor man’s lamb was precious to him, and represented all that he had in this world. And so this rich man is about to entertain a guest, and he does not take a lamb from his own, but this poor man’s ewe lamb he takes to prepare for the meal. The rich man took what was not his and used it for his selfish purposes.

What a perfect set up. You can see how God lead Nathan to share just the right story. You can see how he came to confront David completely prepared. You can see that he is using images that speak to David being a shepherd. You can see how it is being done in a way that David will be able to see his own sinfulness in it. You can see Nathan is being a true friend to David. You can also see that God is about to nail David and break his hardened heart through this story. You can see when you look at it, the proper way to confront others.

Let us look on: 5 Then David’s anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. 6 "He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion."

When David hears this story, he is livid, completely fired up! He demands that the rich man restore the poor man four-fold, and then says that the rich man in this case should be executed. Execution was not possible in this situation so David gave the maximum penalty which was fourfold restitution. Notice that Nathan did not ask even David for a judicial decision, and David naturally assumed the story was true. David immediately passed sentence on the guilty man of Nathan’s story. David shows that we often try to rid our guilty consciences by passing judgment on someone else.

Is not it amazing that David, the man who excuses so much sin in his own life throughout this story can be so harsh and so critical when dealing with sin in the lives of others? Is not that how we are? We do not want to give any grace to others who sin but the maximum penalty thrown at them. On the other hand we want all the grace in the world given to us when we sin. We often try to find refuge in excusing or minimizing or deflecting the blame of our sin. We do not simply condemn sin in ourselves but magnify the sin of others so that our sin will not be seen.

It always amazes me how our sins looks so horrible when someone else is doing them. We are ready to put others to death like David was, but when we are doing the same thing, it is not that bad and we call for God’s grace and mercy to be extended to us. But when someone else does them we call for hellfire and brimstone to come down upon them and destroy them. So much for grace and mercy for others, right! This is not the model we should be follow, but sadly it is what most of us do.

What sin are you excusing? Are you being critical of others and their sin and all the while being unwilling to look at your own sin? Are you desiring grace from everyone on your shortcoming and unwilling to offer any grace to others?

How do you deal with people who want grace but do not give it?

Confronting Others–The Tough Job!

This week we start the process of David getting confronted on his sin with Bathsheba.  What we have as we start off in chapter 12 is it has been nearly a year since the affair; David kept his sin hidden within his heart. There is no record of him telling anyone about what he had done, no record of repentance, no record of anything. Now without question David knew what he had done and the depths of how wrong it was but he did not confess it to anyone. Now when it comes to Bathsheba, she knew about the adultery and I do not believe she knew about the murder but I would guess she would have her suspicions as her husband was in town with David right after the affair then back to the battle and was immediately killed. Can you imagine how the relationship between her and David suffered? . Every time their eyes met guilt flashed back and forth between them. There was no joy, there was no peace, there was no anticipation over the birth of the baby; there was only pain and guilt. Others knew about David’s sin, Joab knew a good amount about what had happened and some of the servants knew what had happened. Worst of all David knew that God knew even though he tried to forget about God!

We may wonder why the Lord waited nearly a year to deal with David’s sin. One answer may lie in the fact that David probably was not ready to be confronted when the sin was first committed. He might have rebelled at that time, caught up as he was in pleasure and the cover-up. God confronted David at the perfect time to secure the right response.

God will use the same tactics in your life and mine! We may feel like we are getting a pass for a time, but we need to be aware that God is working behind the scenes. And, when the time is right, He will confront our sins and call us back to Him. By the way, people never get away with sin as we looked at last week and as the Bible tells us.

Let us look now at 2^nd Samuel 12 beginning with just the first part of verse 1 for today: Then the LORD sent Nathan to David.   God sent Nathan the Prophet, a man David respected to confront his sin. He’s going to tell David a story. David doesn’t know that this story is being made up. In his role as king, David is constantly being asked to sit as judge over matters like the ones in this story. As far as David knows, he is being asked by Nathan to give a judgment in this matter.

David wouldn’t listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit or to his conscience. Now God sends Nathan to speak for him. God mercifully kept speaking to David even when David wouldn’t listen. No one should ever presume that God would speak forever to the unrepentant sinner. God said in Genesis 6:3, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever." When we hear or sense the conviction of the Holy Spirit we must respond to it immediately, because it might not always be there. You must respond before you harden yourself to God and his promptings.

So we here have Nathan coming speaking for God and he comes to confront David. We can learn something in the way Nathan is going to confront David. You will see that when Nathan comes to David, he comes prepared. Under divine inspiration, Nathan comes to David well prepared. He is not going to be just telling a story but Nathan is telling a well prepared story with a very important message for David. When you have to confront someone, it should never be done without preparing in advance which certainly includes much prayer and well as thought as to how to do it. Never confront a situation without planning when it can be helped

We will see that Nathan did use a story to confront David. Why a story? Why not just let David have it head-on, with both barrels? I think that generally is a wrong tactic anytime you have to confront someone because people get defensive and that is what Nathan was avoiding. I also see it would be a wrong tactic here because with the story Nathan gets David to pronounce judgment on the crime before he realizes who the criminal is. Nathan is confronting him in a way that touches a nerve which we see in the response of David. When you have to confront someone, do it in a manner that they will understand, not in a manner that is going to make you feel good, but one that will get the point across.

Another reason Nathan told David this story is that it was meant to expose David’s sin in principle, in a way that cannot be denied. We will see that here this very well, Nathan then presses on to deal with David’s sin specifically. When confronting someone, you want to do so clearly that they see it and that they cannot deny what it is they have done.

What we will see here is that Nathan used wisdom, courage, and a story about a lamb to get the message through to David. It was common in those days to have a lamb as a pet, and Nathan used this story of the pet lamb to speak to his friend David. David listened to Nathan because he was not a negative person who was always whining and complaining to David about everything and everyone else but he was a trust friend. True friends are willing to confront their friends on behaviors that are wrong and are willing to have the friend walk away from the friendship because they are doing the going to do the right thing and confront the wrong behaviors.

Is confronting others something you are comfortable doing or is it a real challenge for you?

Rumors, Covering Up, and the Truth

Yesterday we saw that Joab sends a messenger back with the report and tells him to tell the king when he gets angry about what happens in battle, to then tell him that Uriah the Hittite is dead and that will smooth over everything.  Look at how it does smooth over everything: 22 So the messenger departed and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, "The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. 24 "Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead." 25 Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, `Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it’; and so encourage him."

David I believe heard these words from the messenger with great relief. He has probably been waiting night and day for the report to come back telling him that Uriah is dead. He thought that now he could cover over his sin by marrying Bathsheba and that would give a plausible explanation for her pregnancy. The cover up is almost complete in the mind of David.

Notice what he says in verse 25 – Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, `Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it’; and so encourage him." – What he is saying is something like – well these things happen in battle – in other words he is saying to Joab to not let the incident of the death of Uriah bother you because it came about as a one of the unfortunate results of combat. This Joab would know was a lie but David was trying to protect himself here and just maybe he is beginning to believe his own lies. After this then David encourages Joab to make the battle stronger and win it.

The relief has come and so now David can complete the cover up, look at what happens: 26 Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

We have no reason to believe that Bathsheba knew that David arranged the death of her husband. It is likely that David concealed all this from Bathsheba. After Uriah dies and Bathsheba fulfills her mourning period, David takes her as his wife. The thing is that David thinks only he, Bathsheba, Joab, and a handful of servants know and he might think they only know the partial truth but most likely it is known by many others because I am sure the rumor mill worked overtime with this juicy gossip. That is a sad thing because the this would happen today – rumors would abound. Everyone would know and have a prayer request to share.

Something else that is very sad here in this story and that is that David shows no remorse. It appears that his heart is hard and that he has lost the sensitivity to the Lord that marked his earlier days. Sin has devastated his life. David was in that terrible place where he had too much sin in him to be happy in God, but he had too much of God in him to happy in sin. Let me ask you, has sin devastated you to the point where you no longer feel guilt about your sin? If so it is time to repent and confess before God.

How do you deal with the rumor mill when gossip comes your way?

Murder and Following Orders

What we have seen in the last two days is that David’s first two plans to take care of his sin do not work so now we see David move on to Plan 3 which is the have Uriah killed plan: 14 Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die." 16 So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war. 19 He charged the messenger, saying, "When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, 20 and if it happens that the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, `Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 `Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’–then you shall say, `Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ "

David now moves to murder. He sends the orders to Joab in the very hand of Uriah. He sends the note telling Joab to send Uriah to the fiercest battle and leave him there to die. Just think about this, Uriah takes his own message of execution and judgment back to Joab unknowingly. Imagine what Joab is thinking when he gets this letter?

What we have now is sin piling on sin and poor choice on poor choice. You have the adultery that is now turning to murder, in order to, cover up the adultery. It is a sad circle of events. We think about how sad this is but we do it in our own lives. We allow pride to keep us confessing sin. We allow pride to keep us from admitting our wrongs. How many times do we wrong others and never make any sort of apology to right the wrong, we just act like it never happened or do like David and try to cover it up or make it someone else’s fault. I have great respect for those who are willing and courageous enough to confess their sinful actions. I have pity for those who are unable to do such honorable things and ignore their actions or try to cover them up. I have great pity for David in this part of his life because he allowed pride, sins, and poor choices to keep him from doing what was God honoring. I challenge you – is there something you need to make right or something you need to apologize for that will honor God ultimately? If so, do it today and free yourself.

We see here that Joab followed the orders that David gave him. Just as Joab had planned, and as David had requested, Uriah died as the Ammonites came out of the city to do battle with them. Then Joab sends a messenger back with the report and tells him to tell the king when he gets angry about what happens in battle, to then tell him that Uriah the Hittite is dead and that will smooth over everything.

Kind of a different question today – Do you think Joab was right or wrong in following through with the orders given by David?  Why?

Blinded by Sin

Yesterday we looked at how David called Uriah home from battle so that he could be with his wife.  Imagine David’s surprise the next morning when he hears this news: 10 Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" 11 Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing." 12 Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.

David most likely is goes to bed thinking that this whole mess is now taken care of and then he gets up in the morning and finds out that Uriah did not go home. His heart had to drop and his mind had to start working on overload. Now what will he do – how to get this problem covered up?

He calls Uriah in to talk about this and asks him why he did not go home. Uriah shows his integrity and his devotion to God by his answer. Uriah outlines the fact that all the others are in tents in the open field, and how could he be an exception? The ark, Israel, Judah, his master Joab, and the lord’s men are all in the open fields sleeping and so he asks this question: “How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”  Imagine how this must have struck a chord of conviction in David. We see David trying to cover up his sin of selfishness and Uriah thinking of others before himself. Notice the contrast here between David’s lack of discipline and Uriah’s sense discipline. David did not have the discipline or control over himself to look away from Bathsheba and he went with his selfish and sinful impulses and took Bathsheba who was not his. Uriah on the other hand puts his selfish impulses to go home to be with his wife in comfort away and this shows he is a man of great integrity. He was a true "team player" who did not want to enjoy the comforts of home as long as his fellow soldiers endured hardship on the field of battle. David had expected and hoped that Uriah would prove to be like himself; instead he proved to be a man of integrity, whose first loyalty was to God and country rather than to his own pleasure.

Do you have the discipline, self-control, the team player attitude, passion for God like Uriah? Are you like David who did not want to confess or admit to his sin and guilt? David’s covering up just makes more and more of a mess and the same is true for you and me when we try to cover up. The more you try to cover up your own sinfulness the more of a mess you will make.

What we see here is since David’s Plan 1 – the send Uriah home plan has failed, that David now implements Plan 2 – get Uriah drunk and send him home. David kept Uriah and extra day hoping that he will go home but all Uriah wants is to get back to the battle front as soon as possible. David hopes that Uriah will treat the coming evening as his last before returning to battle and be with Bathsheba. David hoped that getting Uriah drunk would weaken his resolve to God and country. Yet Uriah did not go down to his house, refusing to enjoy what his fellow soldiers could not while the battle still rages.

We see in Uriah a good example of how Christians should conduct themselves in life. We should as Romans tell us: Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. David on the other hand is an example here of someone who was drunk with lust when he slept with Bathsheba; he hoped that making Uriah drunk with wine would help him cover up his sin. The sad thing for David was Uriah was a better man drunk at this point than David was sober.

Sin will blind you and create stinking thinking in your life. David is an example of someone who has their poor thoughts leading them because they are trying to cover up their sins rather than confessing them. David continues to make poor choice after poor choice. David is being led by self and not by the Spirit of God. Are you being led by self or by the Spirit?

What are you thoughts today on all this?

The Cover Up….

Have you ever done something wrong and tried to cover it up? I have and it has never really worked out for me. I have thought I have gotten away with things but I have always been found out. Sometimes being found out was way down the road but I have been found out and it is painful to have those sinful things found out.

There is a real truth in the bible which is found in Numbers 32:23 – But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out. “Your sin will find you out” – those can be some chilling words when you are not living life in a way that is honoring to God. It is too bad David and many of us today do not recognize the truth of this verse because if we did I think we would live, think, and act much differently than we do.

How many political leaders do things and think they will not be caught? How many celebrities and athletes do things and think they will not be caught? How many people think they are above getting caught and they can get away with anything? How many men and women have affairs and think no one will ever know? Let me just remind you of a couple of recent sad examples of powerful people who were doing things that were wrong but they thought that they will not get caught. Tiger Woods the golfer who had multiple affairs while married and his life and career have fallen apart since getting caught. Anthony Weiner the congressman who sent illicit comments and pictures via twitter and thought he would not get caught and now his life and career too have fallen apart. Both of these examples are people who tried to hide and cover up and lie about what was going on and when they got caught. We start today seeing the very same thing with David – a man after God’s own heart – he is trying to cover his sin.  It is nothing new to try to cover up sin.

Before I went on vacation we began looking a David and his poor choices. David made the first poor choice years before this incident with Bathsheba when he went against God’s way to have more than one wife. That sin I believe grew into a sinful lust that was brought to the forefront when he saw Bathsheba bathing. His poor choices are seen throughout this whole story. He made the poor choice of not being at war with his troops, the poor choice of not looking away when he saw Bathsheba, he made the poor choice to find more out about her and then to call her to the palace and then the choice of the affair with her. David made poor choice after poor choice. We looked last week at the power choices and how we have painful consequences in our lives as a result of the poor choices we make, which is clearly seen in David’s life. We cannot blame anyone else for our poor choices but us. When we make poor choices we block God from view in our lives and when that happens many things fall apart and we have painful consequences because our sin. We saw this beginning to take shape in verse 5 of 2 Samuel when Bathsheba sent word telling David that she was pregnant. Her pregnancy is a result of David’s poor choices and he continues with poor choices and an attempted cover up today.

Let us look on today into 2^nd Samuel 11 and start with verse 6: 6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. 8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

So David decides he will try to cover up his sin by bringing Uriah home to be with his wife and once that happens then things will look like nothing happened between David and Bathsheba. David thinks things will be free and clear and to get back to normal. Here is the thing that David missed – he is doing his best to conceal his sin rather than confess it which would lead to healing. Again a poor choice on the part of David to cover it all up – look at this Proverbs 28:13 – “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them, will find compassion.” David is just making things so much worse for himself by his trying to cover up his sin – again your sin will find you out! Confess to the one you sinned against then move forward and there will be real healing but still consequences to deal with but not as bad of consequences as the covering up will bring on you.

The whole idea that we have of hiding our sin is deceptive. Our sin is never hidden before God or from our conscience. Our hidden sin hinders our fellowship with God and others and is a barrier to spiritual life and power. What sins are you hiding that is a barrier to your spiritual life? What sins are you hiding that is taking away all your spiritual power?

In verses 6 and 7 we see that David has Uriah brought to him. Imagine how awkward of a scene this would be with his fake questioning of Uriah. Here David covers up the real purpose in bringing Uriah home by asking him these three questions: How is Joab? How are the other soldiers? How the war was going? Uriah has to be wondering in his mind – you brought me back 43 miles to ask me these questions — Really?  It has to be perplexing to him.

David then ends the awkward conversation by saying, “Hey go on home and rest and relax with your wife”. This is the first of David’s three plans that we will see him use in trying to cover up his sin. He wants Uriah to go home and be with Bathsheba and get him out of the hot water he has got himself into. We then see that this plan does not work because Uriah does not go home but goes and sleeps with the other servants. Think about this for a moment, Uriah’s discipline and devotion to the country far exceeded that of David’s here – David who is the king. David’s mind is on self because of his sin while Uriah has his mind on others. Sin will always lead us to selfishness and doing the right things will always lead us to selflessness. Which way are you being lead or moving – toward selfishness or selflessness?

When you were a teen, did you ever try to cover up something that you did?  What was it and how did it work out?