- araratchurch
- Jun 7, 2024
- 3 min read
“Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard. When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?” Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.””
2 Samuel 11:8-11 NLT
Somebody help me! What I thought was a parachute, is just a backpack!
You may have been there. You have a plan to get out of a pickle [may come from a Dutch phrase, "in de pekel zitten," literally means, "to sit in the pickle brine"], but have actually managed to “find” the bottom of the vat!
As we have discussed, once the line is crossed into evil and injustice, the tendency is to continue the descent into deeper depravity, accompanied by increasing disregard for what is right. One step toward the bottom necessitates another until you are lower than you ever imagined, lower than those you previously scorned for their weakness.
“The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.”
Proverbs 4:18-19 NLT
And then there’s this:
“Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are.”
Psalms 36:1-2 NLT
And who wrote Psalm 36? Yes, it was David! (Remember when we discussed the fact that it doesn’t look different when it is you?) But here he is now, with a fail-proof plan to cover his sin! After all, what man—having been away at war—would refuse a night of intimacy with his beautiful wife?
Oh! But there is an “intervening variable” [when I was doing research in my psychological studies, we would often find that we would get an unexpected result due to the presence of some phenomenon in the experimental model for which we had not controlled—an “intervening variable”]! The intervening variable in King David’s plan is the fact that Uriah is a man of honor and duty, a man faithful to his fellow battle-weary brothers in arms.
Make no mistake, if you are committed to righteousness, sooner or later you will find yourself (often inadvertently) interjected into the crosshairs of an evil scheme. Sometimes your very existence as one devoted to the Lord, devoted to doing what is right, will necessitate your being neutralized. Sometimes those bent on carrying out an evil plan, or a plan to cover up evil deeds, will attempt to corrupt the righteous. When that doesn’t work, when you won’t be moved from your steadfastness, the only option left for those determined to carry out their scheme, is your removal.
Yes, it can be a very dangerous place to be when your commitment to righteousness stands in the way of the carrying out of an evil scheme. You don’t believe me? Just ask Uriah…
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Jun 6, 2024
- 3 min read
“Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.” Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing. Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace.”
2 Samuel 11:5-8 NLT
Remember that slippery slope we keep talking about? Yes, a person steps out onto a slippery slope thinking they are going to be able to navigate it. However, more often than not, they find themselves hopelessly sliding to the bottom.
Given such a predicament, many people grab for a branch of deceit interrupting the treacherous slope. Having given into temptation, they imagine they can stop their precipitous fall by employing deceit to cover up their sin.
Consider the original couple: After having yielded to the temptation of the serpent, their fear caused them to enter into the deceit of hiding from God.
“When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?””
Genesis 3:8-9 NLT
You know that the panic is real if it causes a person to believe that they can hide from God! And yet, they tried to do just that.
Given the myriad of injustices in the world, one must suppose there are those who do believe that God does not see what they are doing (or they suppose God does not exist—but we are referencing those who do believe He exists).
The psalmist knew you can’t hide from God.
“They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; and they say, "The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive."”
Psalm 94:6-7 ESV
A very wise man knew you can’t hide from God.
“The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping his eye on both the evil and the good.”
Proverbs 15:3 NLT
The writer of Hebrews knew you can’t hide from God.
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”
Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT
Indeed, God has confirmed that no one can hide from Him.
“While you did all this, I remained silent, and you thought I didn’t care. But now I will rebuke you, listing all my charges against you. Repent, all of you who forget me, or I will tear you apart, and no one will help you.”
Psalms 50:21-22 NLT
But what about King David? We are told (1 Samuel 13:14) that he was at one time a man “after God’s own heart.” Surely he knows God is watching. But remember what we said earlier about panic? Well, it looks like David is driven by his panic to employ a deceitful scheme.
Yes, King David has a plan: He will have Uriah—one of his faithful soldiers—come home and “relax” with his wife, Bathsheba. This way Uriah can suppose that the baby Bathsheba is carrying belongs to him. What could possibly go wrong with such a clever scheme?
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Jun 5, 2024
- 3 min read
“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. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant."”
2 Samuel 11:4-5 ESV
Someone once said, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808) The meaning of this line is that deception may start “small,” but it brings “friends.”
You see, the truth requires no support to hold it up. The truth supports itself. Alternatively, a lie needs a supporting structure. If left to stand alone, a lie will fall under its own weight at the slightest breeze of scrutiny.
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”
Galatians 6:7 ESV
Our behavior—good or bad, deceitful or honest, just or unjust—plants its own kind right back into our lives.
However, it seems that those who operate in deceit of any sort, seem to think that they can even deceive God Himself. Indeed, they believe they will never face a reckoning. Jesus described a scenario with just such deceivers.
“On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”
Matthew 7:22-23 NLT
Yes, the self-deceived wicked, will dare to try to defend themselves before the highest Judge. But, for them, the jig will be up, and they will suffer this painful truth: “He who defends himself, has a fool for a client.”
Now, what does a lie have to do with injustice? Obviously, both are the products of evil. But their connection goes beyond that of category.
Wherever there is injustice, there is a lie supporting it. As we have discussed, much iniquity is shrouded in a smokescreen of rationalizations. What I didn’t say before, but say now, is that rationalization per se is based on a lie.
If nothing else, the rationalization process is based on the assumption that circumstances, desires, etc., skew the definition of what is right. Granted, that process (the skewing of what is right or wrong) may start small, but can end up producing atrocities like the holocaust of the Jews, the genocide of the Armenians, the practice of human slavery, etc. In fact, all injustices begin with a lie. Consider Jesus‘s words in the book of Revelation:
“The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
Revelation 21:7-8 ESV
For our purposes here, let’s list a few lies that precede and defend injustice:
> This is for the greater good.
> They did this to me so I should be able to do this to them.
> This person/these people is/are of a different “sort” than me, and deserve(s) what they get.
>This isn’t injustice, it’s just the way of it in a dog-eat-dog world.
>This isn’t my fight/business.
>It’s always been this way.
>Etc.
But—make no mistake—the lie used to support the injustice only serves as fuel on the flame of God’s judgment.
Now, what does all of this have to do with Bathsheba having conceived a child by King David? You see, the deceit has led to the conception of something that cannot be hidden. And let’s face it, some define right and wrong by what they can or cannot get by with.
As a tragic aside, the practice of abortion—the murdering of unborn human beings—is an attempt to negate any consequences of one’s behavior. Many times it is an attempt to avoid all consequences of sexual promiscuity. So, one evil gives rise to one of the most heinous of crimes before God: the shedding of innocent blood.
Now, speaking of shedding innocent blood, King David is facing a conundrum. What will he do? Surely no one can find out what he did with Bathsheba!
Watch out King David! Whereas spiders can avoid being caught in their own webs, it won’t be the same for you!
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!