Very bad decisions are always preceded by some small ones. (2 Samuel 5-7; 11-12; 1 Kings 3; 8; 11)

5:10

“And David went on, and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.” The most important part of this verse is that God was with David. The second most important part is that David “went on.” What does this mean?

How important is movement? How important is action? How important is momentum and inertia? For our progression, forward motion is essential. We have to keep moving onward and upward.

It’s about progression. It’s about going from one milestone to the next. The plan of salvation is a path that we must travel along. Our prophet speaks often of the covenant path. A path doesn’t do us any good if we simply think about it. We have to take steps.

5:12, 20

”And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake.” David could have viewed this in a self-aggrandizing way. He didn’t. He saw it for what it was. He didn’t view it as, because of his greatness, he was made king. It was the Lord’s work.

The Lord didn’t do it to benefit David but to benefit Israel. We have to view our good works the same way. It is never to give ourselves glory.

David continues to do this. “And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters.” Again, David could have claimed the glory but he gives credit where it belongs. We’ve each got to have this same mindset or we will not be able to remain humble and teachable.

6:20

”Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!” I’m afraid this kind of thing happens a lot. When one spouse desires to be more active in the church, his or her spouse is discouraging.

Whether it’s Satan’s influence or fear or jealously or control I don’t know. I just know it happens and, to the spouse who is trying to grow spiritually, keep on the path no matter what - or who - attempts to convince you otherwise.

7:2, 6

David wanted to build a temple. He compared his house with the house of God. “That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.”

However, Nathan spoke with the Lord and the Lord said, “Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.”

The Lord spoke of all of the amazing things that He has accomplished without a permanent temple. Basically, the point is, God doesn’t need a fancy temple to perform his work. God doesn’t need cedar planks and gold and silver.

It reminds me of what Christ said to the Samaritan woman. That she could simply worship God in her heart. She didn’t need to enter the temple to connect with God. It could happen in her closet. God is available.

7:22-24

David has such promise! The thing that gives him potential is his humility. He gives all credit to God in the beginning. He praises God: “For thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, Lord, art become their God.”

If David could have maintained this humility and reliance on the Lord, he might have avoided the bad choices that he made later. I’m sure it’s almost impossible to maintain humility when you’re king…

11:1

It appears that David’s problems really began when he was idle. There is a battle that David skips. “And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.” That last part is the critical part.

Compare ‘tarried still’ with ‘moving on.’ When we are moving forward, we are too busy to get into mischief. When we are tarrying still, our weaknesses creep up to the surface. David not being anxiously engaged is part of his downfall. It’s a good example for us.

11:2

Sure enough, trouble shows up. “And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.” Again, if David wasn’t just wandering around at night, he would have never seen Bathsheba...

But he does. The text reads that she was very beautiful. David’s natural urges controlled his spirit. He could have just looked away and the whole thing would have been avoided.

We all have thoughts that pass through our brains. We all see images that are immodest. The problem is when we dwell on these thoughts or images. If we have the spiritual strength to quickly move onto something else, we can avoid temptation.

The first mistake was being idle. The second mistake was lingering with a beautiful image.

11

Of course, without his mind anxiously engaged, his thoughts continue to wander. He likely couldn’t stop thinking about Bathsheba. “And David sent and inquired after the woman.” He’s certainly not putting her out of his mind. Instead of simply thinking about her, he’s taking a small step towards her by inquiring after her. Asking a question doesn’t seem like a big deal - but it’s one more step in the wrong direction. This is his third mistake. So far, his actions are minimal.

But, like most sins, it progresses. He now takes real action. “…And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him…“ At that point, no huge sin has been committed. But, bringing her to him was asking for trouble. It was his fourth mistake. This one is bad. If we are seeking to avoid temptation, it’s not a good idea to invite it over to your house. He should have known better. Perhaps he thought they might have a discussion and it would be more or less harmless. We shouldn’t take these kinds of risks with temptation.

Of course, it escalated. “…and he lay with her.” His first sin of being idle has quickly progressed to adultery.

If he would have never seen her bathing and she just showed up one day out of the blue, the affair likely wouldn’t have happened. It was the small steps in between that made the eventual step of adultery not seem like such a stretch.

This is how almost all major sins happen. Big sins always begin with small, progressively worse sins. It is why we must be diligent in avoiding even the small mistakes.

Unfortunately, this passionate night led to a problem for David. “And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.”

Of course, David views himself as king and so his sin must be covered. He can’t just admit what he has done and repent. He has too much to lose.

First, he attempts to get Uriah to sleep with his wife. “And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.”

He’s manipulating this good person to hide his sin. Unfortunately for David, Uriah refuses to sleep with his wife since his brothers in arms aren’t enjoying such pleasures. “And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.” Uriah is a man of honor.

It’s an interesting comparison. David wants Bathsheba to satisfy himself and then hide what he’s done. Uriah refuses to satisfy himself when his brothers wouldn’t even know. Two very different people.

When this deception fails, David takes the final step in committing the ultimate sin. “And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.” He is essentially murdering Uriah to hide his own sin.

This is big. And it all started with being idle. I have two points to make with this story.

1. Rather than condemn and judge David, we should see what lessons apply to us and learn from his mistakes. These stories in the scriptures are not meant for us to judge and feel better about ourselves. Each story is included to help us learn and avoid making the same bad choices. We have to see how each lesson applies to us. And, they usually apply more than we first see.

2. We have to avoid pride like the plague. David first sent his armies to battle - perhaps thinking he was too important to risk. David flexed his power when he sent for Bathsheba. David obviously thought he could do what pleased him. David thought he had too much to lose to make his sin public. He was king! Pride does come before the fall.

11:27

Rather than feel awful for what he had done, he continued to make bad choices. “And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” He would have a daily reminder of what he had done. It paints a picture of a man who wasn’t feeling remorse.

12:5

Nathan was wise and shares a story of a rich man, with many flocks, taking a poor man’s only lamb. ”And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

This is kinda typical of how we are. We sometimes aren’t self-aware. We easily see the flaws in others but have a much harder time recognizing weakness in ourselves. We’ve got to work to get past our own biases for ourselves and attempt to see our behavior the same way God does.

I love it when Nathan says, “Thou art the man.” What a moment for David.

12:9

The amazing thing is that David somehow was okay with God seeing the whole thing. Again, he succumbed to pride. David was mostly concerned with his earthly glory. He had forgotten about his eternal glory. Nathan reminds him. “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.”

12:16-23

David’s child with Bathsheba is stricken with an illness. David attempted to do something that might save his child. “David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.” He appears to be mourning in sackcloth and ashes. He seems earnest.

”And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.”

Strangely, David switches gears immediately. “Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.”

His servants are curious.”Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.” It didn’t seem natural.

David explained. “And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

So, it seems like the mourning and fasting was transactional. He was hoping there would be a cause/effect result. He was doing what he was doing so that God would heal his child. When it became apparent that it was futile, he stopped. He wasn’t truly mourning. He was doing it to get something out of it.

Rather than condemn him, I should consider if I do the same thing. In a real sense, I do a lot of what I do so that I will progress and receive my reward in heaven. I need to not make my life one big transaction. Rather, I should simply love God and love others and THAT is why I do what I do. It’s a big difference and I think I’ll be working at that my entire life.

1 Kings

3:7, 9, 11, 12

Solomon, like David, starts out humble. He says, “And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.” He realized that he didn’t have experience. He recognized his reliance on the Lord.

He asks the Lord for discernment. “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?“

The Lord loves a humble, teachable servant. “And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart.”

I think Solomon wanted to be a good leader. He recognized his weakness and asked the Lord to give it to him. The Lord loves this.

I love the part where the Lord says, “I have done according to thy words.” This is one principle that I am really appreciating as we read the Old Testament. I see that God responds to our prayers. He is a person who will intervene if needed. He will clear the way for someone to do something righteous. I need to have more faith that God will grant my righteous requests if it is consistent with his will.

3:26-28

An example of this wisdom is included here. Two women were disputing who was the mother of a baby. Solomon’s solution was dramatic: “And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” Knowing that there would be no way to tell which was lying, he relied on his knowledge of human nature.

”Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.” What a great proposal. The challenge was to discern who the real mother was - what greater method than to arrange a situation where the real mother’s love would affect action.

Through this and, I’m sure, other wise judgments he made, word traveled fast. “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.”

Wisdom is a tricky one because it’s easy to see how your wisdom comes from your personal experience and study and thoughts. It’s easy to think that your brain is the wellspring of wisdom - you had to earn it. This is a dangerous road because we may start to feel pride in our brainpower. We must realize that wisdom is a gift from God. We can gain wisdom through experience - but who provided the experience. Who gave our brains the power to conduct electric signals? All good things come from God.

8:23

Solomon says before the congregation: “And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart.”

I hear the phrase ‘keep covenants’ and I think I know what it means. It means to live up to your covenants - to hold up your end of the promise - to do what you say you will do.

What does it mean to ’keep mercy?’ I think it means the same thing as it does with covenants. The Lord has promised mercy. Mercy is part of the plan. The Lord will follow through on his commitment to be merciful. We can count on it. None of us should think that we are going to slip through the cracks of mercy. None of us is a uniquely special sinner where Christ’s mercy won’t reach us.

8:27

Sometimes, I feel like God is in heaven and I am here and there is a gulf between us. He is billions of miles away and out of reach. This isn’t how it works. God is not restrained by distance. He is in heaven but also close by. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?”

We must not ever attempt to put God in a box. He isn’t restrained by location. He is right next to you - hearing your whispered prayer. It’s hard not to place humanistic restrictions on God but we need to try to see him as he is.

8:30

”And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.” What does this mean?

Does it mean that, when we pray, God forgives us because we prayed? Yes and no. As I wrote earlier, God does react to prayers. He will alter our course if needed - and we ask for it.

But, I think prayers have a broader effect. It isn’t so transactional. If we are praying often, we are more likely to be humble and teachable. We are more likely to seek God’s will and repent more often. As we repent more frequently and more sincerely, we are forgiven. In this way, prayers lead to forgiveness.

8:32, 39

”Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head.” This is an interesting phrase. Our ‘way’ is our set of consecutive choices that we make as we live day to day. Each one of those choices has consequences that naturally result and inevitably ‘land’ on our heads. We learn from this natural process.

He continues in verse 39. “…and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest.” What is in our hearts guides our way.

8:46-48

We all sin. We know it. Solomon knew it too. “If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near...” Solomon knew it would happen eventually.

”…yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness. And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul.” The phrase ’bethink themselves’ is interesting. The footnote explains that it means ‘consider it in their heart.’ If we truly realize that we have sinned, that’s the first step on the road back to righteousness. The next step is to ”return to thee with all their soul.”

Solomon is asking God for mercy. “Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them.” This mercy is extended to us as we sin. We can be forgiven. It starts with praying.

8:58

”That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments.” He can incline our hearts. What does this mean? We have agency - but God can soften our heart towards him. He can give us strength at the moment we are tempted. He can help us no longer have a disposition to do evil. He can give us gentle nudges throughout our day that point us towards righteousness. We ultimately choose for ourselves but we can be inclined.

8:61

”Let your heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.” Many of us truly love God and want to be perfectly obedient. We do still have weaknesses.

So, while our actions will not be perfect anytime soon, our heart can be. God knows that we will make mistake after mistake. We will continue to make bad choices. But, if our heart is perfectly in love with him and we have a desire to do his will - over time, our actions will continually be refined.

11:1-4

We all have our weaknesses. It sounds like Solomon’s may be women. “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites.”

The Lord had warned Israel. “Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” There is aways a risk of adopting the beliefs of those we are around. It’s just human nature

Solomon was susceptible to this. “Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.“ Those who we are intimate with have a more intense influence on us. These women influenced Solomon.

”For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods.” Consider the spiritual experiences that Solomon had throughout his life. He had seen the Lord twice! He was chosen and anointed! It is a lesson to us that, no matter what our spiritual resume looks like, we can be tempted. We can lose our place. We can’t take a spiritual side road and rely on the spiritual inertia that we have in the bank! We must continually, actively do those things that bring us closer to God. None of us, through pride, should think it’s okay to take a spiritual break or temporary detour.