The Case of the Open Window Shade
With all that we have here in chapters 11-12 of 2 Samuel; one would almost think that you would have the makings of a Hollywood movie.
Think about it; the central characters are a passionate warrior-king, a beautiful but passive woman, a pious and trusting husband, an obedient but amoral general, and a prophet of God without fear. The events in the story would give the movie broad appeal: lust, adultery, deceit, murder, potential blackmail, and confrontation, consequences, tragedy, followed by the sincerest repentance. The movie probably would be a hit and probably no one would have the slightest clue it was from the bible!
Some critics of the bible have used this dark chapter in the life of David to cast doubt on the bible and on God. They say that events like this coming from a man like David; a man whom was said to be “a man after God’s own heart” just proves the contradiction found in the bible! They like to say, “Why would God reveal such dark and damaging events about one of the main characters of the OT?” To the critics these events just prove the bible’s inconsistencies.
But if these chapters really prove anything, they prove without a doubt that the bible is indeed the work of God and certainly not of man! Think about, if this was the work of man; say for instance David wrote it himself, he might have chose to gloss over these events like ex-president Clinton does in his book about Monica, Whitewater, and Jennifer flowers. Clinton blames the stress that the republicans were giving him over the ‘94 budget for why he found refuge in Monica and then lied about it under oath. He doesn’t go into a lot of details and you can imagine why! When man writes the story, he can skip this part, gloss over that part, and chose to omit whatever he wants! Because he doesn’t want people to know the whole truth about him. But God doesn’t do that when he writes the story! God brings everything into the light of day, no matter how nice or how bad. God is a faithful recorder of the lives of men as well as of nations. If there are any inconsistencies and areas of contradiction in the bible; they are found in the lives of men and women and not in God! I think God wanted us to see just how human David was! Guess what, David was sinner just like we are!
Only God would reveal, “For all have sinned, (including David) and come short of the glory of God…” Rom 3:23
Before the incident with see David very satisfied with himself as a leader, satisfied with his accomplishments, so satisfied that when the time came for war; he decided to set this one out! After all he had done so much, he deserved a break, he must have thought. And it was the war that had brought about the absence of Bathsheba’s husband; he was solider in the army. There one night before he turned in David just felt on edge; felt like he’s missing something, he’s restless enough to take a walk out on his roof which must have been like a balcony. It was then and there that he saw the opened window so to speak, and started then to plot to have Bathsheba for his own!
We all know the rest of the story!
But there are a fundamental truth here which we may not know about when it comes to temptations and God’s will. There is a connection between the two which might help us next time when we are under the pressure of temptation.
What we are going to see is the very essence of temptations. If you were to ask me, what is the simplest explanation of what temptations are, I would say that they are a departure from God’s will to do you own will, even in good things.
We will see two cases, one where the person stepped out of God’s will and the last we will see how the temptation can be avoided if we just stay where we should, which is inside God’s will.
I. David
2 Sam 11:1-5
“…and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
And David sent and enquired after the woman.” 2-3
For David to sin like he did here; he did so by first stepping outside of God’s will for himself! Stepping out of God’s will is the essence, the bottom line of every temptation that will ever come our way. That’s right. I.e. for the temptation to work on us it has to lure us out of God’s will; even if it is just one little step!
Notice again the vv 2-3. David saw Bathsheba. That right there has landed many a good men into trouble. If you have enough will power to shut your eyes or run away like Joseph, you could be saving yourself what David would go through later. I want you to be mindful of this one thing though. Where was the of sin in this incident?
The sin was not with David looking and becoming aroused. It wasn’t, that is a natural response of how God has made every man, it doesn’t make his actions right, but that’s the way things are with men. That’s the gospel truth! Now that doesn’t justify pornography at all, don’t get me wrong.
David’s desire to be a woman; is a God given desire! Something is seriously wrong when a man desires another man in the way that he should desire a woman!
David’s sin is not in him looking. David’s sin is not that he desires to be with a woman.
David’s sin and the essence of every sin; was him meeting that God given desire out side of God’s will!
That my friends is the bottom line of every temptation that will ever come our way!
David had a god given desire to be with a woman; David was designed by God to be aroused by what he saw. But David chose to meet this desire of his outside of God’s will, which in this case was outside his marriage!
The devil would have us meet our god given desires and God’s expectations of us in our own way instead of in God’s will! That right there is what lures us into temptation to begin with; realizing that we can satisfy this god given desire right now by meeting, doing what we know is right and legitimate but doing it outside of God’s revealed will.
What David should have done was to go and look at one of his eight wives and satisfy that god given desire with one of them, which would have been totally aright; instead of completely stepping out side of the bonds of his marriage which was God’s will!
But here is what David was probably thinking that night. I’m restless, bored, there’s just nothing to do, so he takes that walk in the evening. There he sees Bathsheba bathing (I don’t think she was an angel either) and with that the natural forces start to work in David, he probably thinks what a lot of men think; “Well, I’m a man and this is what men do!” The more pious men think however; “Well, God’s the one that put this desire in me, so in a way it is his fault, so I’m not so bad!”
Yes, God put that desire in men; yes God designed men to be sexually aroused by what they see. But God has also given what is called marriage for those God given desires to be fulfilled and meet! The bible says, But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. 1Co 7:9 God gave you those desires but God has a place for those desires to be meet! That’s in his will! You step out of God’s will to meet those desires and you are opening yourself up to every heart aching consequences there is! Sex is God’s gift to the married couple, and what a wonderful gift it is when used in its right context.
Ladies, you have needs too. Statically speaking, more married women cheat in their marriage than men do! Why? Because the average husband never wants to talk and share their feelings, some have emotionally checked out years ago. No affection, no love letters, no flowers, no wowing of the heart like there was before marriage; take there toll on the mind and heart of women. And once a husband checks out emotionally in a marriage; those needs are going unmeet. And all of the sudden the guy at work who respects you, listens to you, seems like the most sensitive man you have ever meet, should have been the one you should have married.
That’s how ever affair starts, a spouses needs go unmeet in marriage and then there is someone who for the most is just trying to be a nice person, but that attention is taken for other things.
I really feel for women that have unresponsive husbands. But what’s the answer? Stay in God’s will! Those needs of yours should only be meet inside of your marriage. David suffered to no end, when he stepped out of God’s will to meet that desire.
II. Jesus
Matt 4:1-11
Here we see the same thing being used on the Lord Jesus. Jesus had just be baptized by John and then led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. These three temptations were not sinful in themselves, in fact the last sure includes a lot of truth that will one day happen.
Remember, for the temptation to work, Jesus has to step outside of God’s will and do things for himself!
A. Eating v3
There is nothing wrong or sinful in eating. God has made man to eat to live; that’s just the way things work, right? All that the devil was asking Jesus to do on the surface was to make these stones into bread. The devil was probably think, “Hey, nobody is going to miss these stones, just go ahead and meet his very human desire to eat to live!” This wasn’t a big miracle either; I know woman that can turn bread into stones!
What’s the bid deal you might think? The deal was that Jesus had too, must do everything; which means everything in God’s will. And last time I checked it is God’s job to make sure that your physical need of eating to live is meet. Yes, Jesus could have meet this need with his power as God, but he willingly placed himself in the position that we are in. That position is that
We are not God and we have to let God supply our needs! For Jesus to make this bread would mean stepping out of God’s will and meeting his need that his father is said to faithfully supply?
What did say David about God’s faithfulness to supply his need? “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psa 37:25
I.e. God is not a dead bet father. He takes care of his own! When his own are willing to wait for him to supply.
There was nothing wrong or sinful about bread or eating; but to step out of God’s will where God the father will supply your need to meet your need yourself: that’s wrong, that’s what leads to greater sins. As hungry as he was, Jesus stayed in God’s will.
B. Gathering a crowd vv 5-6
The devil takes him to the temple’s pinnacle and suggests casting himself down so the angels could bear him up like it is said they would do in the scriptures. By the way the devil knows the scripture, he twists it’s meaning though, the HS helps us not only to know what it says but to know what it doesn’t say as well.
The first temptation was to step out of God’s will and preserve your life by eating. This one is to step out of God’s will to gather a crowd. Think about it, for him to jump down from such a great height and not have a sudden impact but just to float until to reached the bottom would gather a crowd like nothing as would. After all everybody likes to be entertained and awed to wonder. And that sure would have helped Jesus gather a crowd like nothing else would. He could have quit this preaching business about crosses and deny yourself and just went to performing stunts to get his message out and what a bigger crowd that would have been. This temptation meant self glorification instead of exercising his faith like we have to do gather a crowd. Just gathering a crowd doesn’t necessary mean that it was done in the right way. We could give away free lottery tickets and this building would be packed every time. But that wouldn’t have anything to do with faith, or trusting God, it would just be about how many lottery tickets we could round up!
Jesus operated his ministry by faith just like are supposed too.
But Jesus stayed in God’s will.
C. No Waiting and no Cross vv 8-9
The devil promises Jesus that if he would but just worship him, that Jesus would be given all the kingdoms of the world. That’s a message in itself, the devil wants your worship.
The devil has a limited authority, but he does have authority. Paul called the devil the God of this world.
The devil knows that Jesus will reign as King of kings, so why not just skip all the waiting, skip the cross, skip the shameful death, skip the crown of thorns and just go straight to reigning right now!
After all, that’s God’s will for you any way! The devil would be right! Jesus will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will one day reign over the entire earth as well as in heaven!
But not at that time! The devil offered Jesus a shortcut, skipping the cross completely, would have being stepping out of God’s will. And not securing a payment for our sins.
It is God’s will for us to wait for some things in this life. We don’t get everything we want, when we want it from God! God has a time set up for us to enter into more of his will for us! Rushing ahead would have robbed us of salvation and heaven!
Not every shortcut in life is worth it!
Jesus avoided this as well and stayed in God’s will knowing full well that God had a time for him to reign as king!
Closing:
We saw David stepping out of God’s will and thoroughly messing up his life and the lives of others. We saw Jesus staying in God’s will for our sakes as much as his.
Every temptation that comes our way, is trying to get us to step out of God’s will and do things our own way, make things happen on our own, take the matter in our own hands!
Just because something is right for you to do, and you have the means to make it happen, like some life changing decision, doesn’t mean we have the green flag to go ahead! We need to step back and ask and seek to see if God will meet that need in our lives!