Everything in life has a cost. It may be a cost we don’t recognize until payment comes due, but the cost is there. For instance, the cost of obesity or fueling our bodies with the wrong foods can be a shorter life or a life filled with health problems. The cost of unresolved guilt can lead to mental problems. Sin, too, has a cost, and it is usually more than we want to pay. Today we will look at the cost of a lingering look. To linger means to hang around or make something last longer than it should. The longer you look at something, the more you desire it.
In II Samuel chapters 11 and 12, we see King David, the mighty warrior, a man after God’s own heart, the chosen one, lingering on his rooftop. It seems like a good place to be on a hot night. However, in II Samuel 11:1, we learn that it was spring of the year when kings went out to battle. From this, we know that David was not where he was supposed to be.
While on the roof, he looks out at his kingdom and sees a beautiful woman bathing in her courtyard. You would think a man that God deemed as “after His own heart” would quickly turn away. However, he didn’t, and the consequences came in waves for years.
David sent for her to come, knowing she was the wife of Uriah, a man out fighting a battle for the kingdom. David never thought his lingering look would bring so much tragedy. He reasoned within himself that it was no big deal; one night, she would go home. He sent for her, and she came. After their passions had been fulfilled, Bathsheba went home, but she was now pregnant with David’s child.
II Samuel 11:4-5 “And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.”
David’s sin leads to another sin. He sends for her husband, who is in battle, to come home. David hoped he would spend the night with his wife, but Uriah was an honorable man, and he would not sleep with his wife while his men were in battle. The plot thickens as David sends a letter by Uriah to Joab the captain, to put Uriah on the front lines of battle. David thought this would take care of his problem because it meant a certain death for Uriah.
II Samuel 11:10-11 “And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.”
David’s plan works, Uriah is killed, and David sends for Bathsheba. It almost looks as if David is being honorable in bringing Uriah’s wife to the palace. After all, she is now a widow, and her husband was killed while defending the kingdom, but God had revealed to His prophet Nathan what had happened.
II Samuel 11:14-15 “And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.”
David’s sin of lingering and lusting has now cost him much. He had been known in I Samuel as a warrior for God. He defended the name of God and God’s people by killing Goliath. He had been honorable in his relationship with Saul, the king he was to replace, and in I Samuel 13:14, Samuel told Saul that David would replace him because he was “a man after God’s own heart.”
Later in II Samuel, we see the baby by Bathsheba dies, and David morns greatly. Later Nathan the prophet visits David. Nathan reveals to David that he was the guilty one before God. His sin had begun to affect everyone around him. His sin affects his children and seems to be a roller coaster effect through the years. I’m sure David never thought about what could happen because of fulfilling his lust on that night.
Satan’s ploy is to make sin appealing, and as he lures us in, all we can think about is the pleasure, not the consequences. If David had turned away as soon as he caught a glimpse of what he was not supposed to see, it would have rewritten the history of his family.
Thankfully, God forgives us when we repent. Psalm 51 is the account of David’s repentance. It is a beautiful Psalm, and it reveals David’s misery. David admits his sin, and his desire is to be right with God. He wants a heart that is pure and a right spirit. He begs God not to cast him away, and to not take the Holy Spirit from him. We understand from verse 12, that he had lost the joy of his salvation. What an awful place to be. David had experienced what happens when we sin and don’t repent immediately. He never thought his sin would escalate to murder, and to the problems with his children for years to come.
Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
David may have been king, but he lost his testimony as God’s man. However, when he repents, he realizes what sin has done to his reputation. He tells God that if he will forgive him and restore him, he will teach others and bring others to Him.
The lessons in this story are: don’t linger where temptation lies; sin always has consequences that cost more than the pleasure is worth; repent quickly instead of trying to cover up your sin; and if you want to influence others, you must seek restoration.
Psalm 51:13 “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”
Excellent