May 26: Bathsheba Moments

2 Samuel 9:1-11:27

John 15:1-27

Psalm 119:49-64

Proverbs 16:1-3

There may be others, but I cannot recall them offhand - occasions in the Bible where someone compounded his or her sin with further sin.  Cain, maybe?  Because after he killed Abel, God asked him about his brother, and he dodged the question.  Adam, perhaps?  Because when God asked him about eating of the forbidden fruit, he tried to deflect blame to Eve.  Maybe Peter, when he denied Jesus thrice...perhaps that is the closest.  But while those were sin, they seem to pale in comparison with David and his likely panic-stricken response to his adultery with Bathsheba, and the resulting pregnancy.  He tried to hide the sin by giving Uriah the opportunity to sleep with his wife, and so disguise the infant's paternity.  When Uriah did not take the bait, David upped the ante by getting Uriah drunk.  And when that didn't work, David then decided not to leave things to chance - he sent Uriah to the battle and gave explicit orders to put him where his death was all but guaranteed.  

Let's think about the magnitude of this for a second: David had been blessed abundantly, royally even.  God had protected him from Saul, a king who wanted to kill him; He gave David the throne, and gave him such abundant prosperity David was moved to want to build a temple for the Ark of the Covenant.  And He gave him victory after victory against the superior forces of countless foes.  And yet, David not only committed sin, he compounded it - his Bathsheba moment - not once, not twice, but thrice, eventually killing Uriah just as certainly as if it had been his own hand that had wielded the weapon.  

We all have our Bathsheba moments.  My parents know I have had more than my fair share - honesty, truthfulness and a willingness to face the consequences of my actions were very difficult for me growing up.  And while God has been a gracious, forgiving healer, I still find myself compounding oversights with excuses - to family, to friends, to Him.  And while they are nowhere near as grievous as the murder of Uriah, they are still sinful Bathsheba moments to be avoided.  

How to avoid them?  That is the life we hope to live, isn't it?  The fruit we hope to bear?  And in the NT reading, we find out how.  We are "already clean because of the word I have spoken to you."  So to bear fruit, we have to "remain in [Him} as [He] also remain[s] in you."  If so, "you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  It isn't our job to bear the fruit - that follows by remaining in relationship with Christ.  And how to do that?  The psalm today is helpful as well - by making His decrees the theme of our song wherever we lodge, by remembering His name in the night that we may keep His law.  

Oh, and no excuses: just an apology.  Sorry this was a day late.