The idea behind this meme is very unhelpful in the fight against sin. It reminds me of the classic Bob Newhart clip where he simply says, “Stop it!” As much as we might want to use this method, it obviously doesn’t work.

However, I would like to point out an observation that might help. I think there is something to be noticed (be warned) from the swiftness of this scene. In a matter of 4 verses that can be read in about 30 seconds, David is absent in battle to the impregnating of a woman who is married and it’s not to David.

I would suggest that sin moves quickly in our hearts. Whether David should have been in battle or not is somewhat irrelevant. The same thing could have happened out in the field of battle. It’s how you respond to temptation wherever you are that you need to be concerned with.

Read the passage:

2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.
3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4 So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” – 2 Samuel 11:2-5

What could he have done?

Maybe it’s hard for kings with such power to have advisers who are godly and do not mind losing their job (or life) by reminding him of God’s law but I would suggest having those kind of people around you.

Recognize that success will do things to your heart. Seeing those signs of pride may indicate that you need to step away. The world will continue on without you, I promise.

Another thing, when you see something like David did, act fast in opposition. Start saying out loud what the consequences would be if you do this all the while praying that God would forgive you for even entertaining the thought. Let’s be people who take our thoughts captive instead of being captive of our thoughts.

We never know how we will respond in temptation. Therefore you already need to be satisfied in Jesus daily and be satisfied with your wife (and I mean in more ways than one). If you are full then you will not need.

Do you have suggestions on fighting sin?

As I begin reading 2 Samuel, I am amazed by the unique love of God. As the scene opens in this book, King Saul has died but the oddness comes from David’s response to the death of his violent enemy who was the LORD’S Anointed. It is strange how broken David and his men are over this news.

I contribute this to God choosing a man after His own heart. In other words, David responds like God does to his enemies. I might also add that David’s men are following his heart and in turn are following God’s heart. This was a good observation for me to see. Those whom God has given us to lead can and will model our hearts. Therefore, we need to pay particular attention to our own.

As I ponder this, I can’t help but think of how the Lord responded to me when I was His enemy. He loved me by sending/giving His only Son that if I believe in him I will have eternal life. It is one thing to avoid your enemies so as not to quarrel with them. It is something unique to purse your enemies and reconcile them to yourself through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the unique love of God on display here in 2 Samuel through His servant David and a looking forward to David’s greater Son!

When we think of God’s unique love towards man, we must acknowledge that all are enemies of God. I can’t imagine what that is like but I also cannot imagine the perfect love within the Trinity that has never been anything but full and complete. The trinitarian nature of God is essential to understand the love of of God. All other concepts of god do not have this unique and fundamental love as we see displayed through David, a man after God’s own heart. Wow!

As I finish reading 1 Samuel today it struck me that David (the LORD’s anointed) looked more like a wandering vagabond hiding out from one place to the next than the next king of Israel. He was unwanted every where he went.

I was also amazed how the Lord directed his path even when it seemed his path was very crooked. Like when he wanted to go with the Philistines into battle the commanders would not have it. Yet in returning (reluctantly) he found his village burned and empty.

In the providence of God he was sent back to rescue his people. Amazingly, he did not assume this but inquired of the Lord BEFORE going to rescue them. Maybe it was while he prayed that his men wanted to stone him!

It is interesting how helpless and crazy David’s life seemed to be before he was actually king. Humility precedes exaltation.

I heard someone recently say that God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. David’s path appeared crooked to us but in God’s economy it was straight.