"Blessed, happy, and enviable is the man (and woman) who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly."
Psalm 1: 1
Amplified Bible
I want to go back to a passage of Scripture we studied several months ago which is found in I Samuel 15: 17 where the prophet Samuel told King Saul "When thou wast little in thine own sight...the Lord anointed thee king."
It wouldn't be a bad idea if every person on earth had the words, "little in thy own sight" engraved upon their minds and hearts. For as we have studied the lives of both King Saul and King David and the women whose lives were entwined with theirs, it is evident that the words of Lord John Acton ring loud and clear with the truth that, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power, corrupts absolutely." No longer "little in their own sight," these rulers used their power in a most capricious manner.
What a tragedy that an individual like David, who had a heart for God, could let himself be caught up drinking the elixir of power to the point where he stooped as low as to take another man's wife and then he created an elaborate scheme to cover-up his mistake. But, very sadly this is exactly what he did. And it is exactly what you and I do when we allow ourselves to be corrupted by the belief that because we are "somebody," we can get away with and do anything we desire. The French writer and preacher Jean Pierre de Caussade correctly acknowledged that, "All that is good in you comes from God." But he also indentified, wisely, that, "all that is bad, spoilt and corrupt comes from yourself." As David began to rely more and more upon himself and his riches and wisdom and power and authority, he let a wall of separation begin to develop between his heavenly Father and himself. Until one day, so corrupted by the false in his heart, he slept with one of his valiant soldier's wives. That in itself was bad enough. But David didn't stop at this one act of sin! As many people have found out in their lives throughout history, the mistakes you make only get worse when you try to cover them up. And this is what David did when he found out Bathsheba was pregnant - he had to hatch up a cover-up. With the assistance of his able-bodied army leader, he brought Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, home from active war duty - a nearly unheard of act in itself.
Historically, at that time, the army and king went to war together. They fought together. They won or lost together. And they celebrated victory together. However, in the case of Uriah, King David, who was in a jam, needed for Uriah to break ranks with his comrades-in-arms. So David brought Uriah to the palace where he pretended to want to get this soldier's take on the war. And then David held a carrot of enticement out before the war, weary Uriah.
In Proverbs 1: 10, Solomon penned these words of warning, "If sinners entice you, consent thou not." The Hebrew translation of the word "entice" is the word "pathah" which means, "to open." But there's more to the meaning of this word for there is a "sinister" side that is associated with it. It means to delude, allure, flatter and persuade. Let's look again at David's behavior. He flattered the unwary Uriah with wily words that seemed to make Uriah think the king longed for his counsel. Once Uriah was comfortable within the king's presence, David "opened" the door by trying to delude Uriah into going home to his wife Bathsheba, taking off his shoes and cleaning up so he could rest awhile in the arms of the one he loved. An enticement that would offer the allurement of time spent at his house relaxing while his fellow soldiers were still on the battlefield risking life and limb.
I don't know about all the experiences you may have faced in your life, however, I think that nearly every person has at one time or another faced a situation where an enticement, like bait, was thrown out to flatter and draw us in. And in the case of Uriah, it was God's anointed, the king of Israel, the warrior David, admired by friend and foe alike, who tried to use one of his bravest to cover his own sin.
This is why the words of Solomon are so critical: "If anyone, even the king tries to entice you, don't consent! Don't say yes! Don't go along!" And this is exactly what Uriah did as we will find out tomorrow. He said, "No!" And he didn't fall for the king's flattery or deceit. May we remember to never consent to that which would cause us to fall.
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Matthew 6: 13
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