The Destruction of Immorality

Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’” 2 Samuel 12:7-10

One of the saddest stories in the Bible begins this way: “Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 11:1). King David was in the spring of his life. The solace of summer stood before him. At his back where the memories of victories won in God’s strength, of nights spent wrapped in Yahweh’s protection, and of a fulfilled promise - one he could have never imagines would come true.

We know the ending to the story. Yet each time we read it, there is something within that wants to cry out, “David! No! Don’t do it. Give it up. It will never satisfy you.” But David opened the door to temptation. Immorality gathered its weapons of war - lust, greed, and murder. One followed the other until the man God called “A man after My own heart” lay helpless in his guilt and sorrow.

David stumbled in his complacency. He should have been off doing kingly things, but pride told him there was no need. Have you relaxed your guard against temptation? None of us are ever out of sin’s reach; so be sure you guard your mind with the truth of God’s Word.

Immorality is never satisfied.