Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Proverbs 29:18 (06/08/23)
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TITLE: A Regrettable Decision | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marilyn Meiners
06/13/23 -
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“Joab, as my right-hand-man, yes, please get the men ready. You can leave first thing in the morning. We must ravage the Ammonites and besiege Rabbah. Take my best men and go and fight. May God give you success.”
“You’re coming too, right David?” asked Joab.
“No, not this time. I’m staying behind,” replied David
“Why? All kings go to war with their army. You are no exception,” stated a stunned Joab.
“Well, there is an exception this time. I’m not going,” replied a determined David.
“But you have to go. The army needs you. Kings go with their men to battle,” boldly stated a confused Joab. “It’s always been done. It’s written, ‘In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…’*
Joab began talking to himself, “The men need their king to cheer them on, be an inspiration to them. Why does King David want to stay home?”
This didn’t make any sense. “’Idle time is the devil's play’. King David better be careful. Ignoring the rule of law could get David into trouble,” Joab thought.
The next morning Joab led the army to the battle ground. King David stood on the balcony of his palace watching his men leave. There was a sense of pride in his heart as he observed the strong army Joab had pulled together. “They will do just fine,” mused David. “They don’t need me. Joab is a good encourager.”
But that little voice kept whispering, David, you should go.
When they were out of sight, David continued to walk the perimeter of his palace. As he rounded the corner, he observed someone bathing across the way.
“Was that a…woman?” David’s breath caught.
Yes, it was.
A beautiful woman indeed.
She had no idea she was being watched. She was humming to herself as she washed her long beautiful hair. He heard her laugh at some inner thought she was having. She not only looked beautiful, she sounded beautiful.
The longer David watched the more enticed he became with her.
He wanted her.
Needed her.
Longed for her.
“Asher!!” David called.
“Yes my lord,” came the reply.
“Who is that woman bathing across the way?” asked David
“She, my lord, is the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Her name is Bathsheba.”
“Go get her for me,” instructed David.”
Reluctantly, Asher went to get Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam.
“Daughter,” Asher began. “My lord, the King, would like to see you.”
“Me? Why?” asked Bathsheba
“The King did not say. Only that I was to get you and bring you to his palace.”
Bathsheba readied herself and soon was on her way to the King’s palace. Once there she realized the King had ulterior motives. What was she to do? One doesn’t refuse the King.
King David had lured Bathsheba to bed with him. After making love with her, he sent her on her way. “Return home, Bathsheba, and say nothing of this event,” commanded David. “No one need ever know what just happened.”
Bathsheba returned home, only to sit in her room and cry for what had just been taken from her.
A voice inside David’s heart seemed to say, “David, you should have gone with your men. Look what you’ve done.”
Later Bathsheba sent a message to David, “I’m pregnant.”
What?
“You sinned against the Lord, be sure your sin will find you out.”*
As David wept over his sin, he couldn’t help but think, “A nation without God's guidance is a nation without order. Happy are those who keep God's law!”
He didn’t keep God’s law. Didn’t guide his nation. He made a mess of things, and he wasn’t happy.
Sin was piling up at Davids doorstep.
Adultery.
Murder.
Thievery.
Disobedience.
“If only I had gone with my men,” cried David. “‘When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.’*. Lord, forgive me for not following your guidance.”
David married Bathsheba. Nathan confronted David with his sin and predicted “the child who is born to you shall die.”* Seven days after the birth, David’s son died.
In time, David returned to the Lord. In confession and repentance he would write, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions….Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me….Restore to me the joy of your salvation….”*
Joy was restored.
You can read the story in 2 Samuel 11
2 Samuel 11:1 - ESV
Numbers 32:23 - ESV
Proverbs 29:18 - GN
Proverbs 29:18 - NLT
2 Samuel 12:14 - ESV
Psalm 51:1, 10, 12a - ESV
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