Episode 90 – Heart Lessons – The Rebellious Heart

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Life is hard at times. Our hearts often get bruised and battered yet God offers us words that help and heal those hearts when we turn to him. Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast, where we study his word and find strength for the day. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries.

Nicole (00:28):

Welcome to the Sweet Selah Moments Podcast. This is episode 90, The Rebellious Heart. Oh, Sharon, we’ve gone from David being quiet and worshipful and courageous and noble and loyal, to rebellious? This does not sound good.

Sharon (00:44):

It is definitely not good. The wonderful and horrible thing about King David’s story is that he runs the full gamut of human behavior, from the heights to the depths. We’ve seen him do so well and love God so well that it hurts to come to this part of the story. You know what though? At the same time, it’s wonderful in a strange way because it confirms to my heart anyway that the Bible’s true. It doesn’t pretty itself up to look nice. People are not always good. Even seemingly stellar people like David can get messed up. And we need to look at the messes as well as at the triumphs. Both can teach us. There’s hope for us if God continued to love David after his rebellion. So that’s a happy thing about it too. (Nicole: Yes) And there are so many life lessons in this particular story, Nicole, but before we begin, tell me what does rebellion actually mean? Do you have any personal examples you’re willing to share?

Nicole (01:43):

Well.

Sharon (01:44):

Don’t you love that question?

Nicole (01:45):

Yeah. We’ll start with the definition first. That’s safe. So the definition of rebellion is ‘an act of violence or open resistance to an established government or ruler, or the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention’.

Sharon (02:03):

Hmm.

Nicole (02:03):

So, well, I do have a rebellious streak in me for sure, but it’s not usually this loud defiant one. It’s more of a, I’ll just tweak the rules to fit me kind of rebellion.

Sharon (02:12):

Ohhh, Nicole Uhhuh.

Nicole (02:14):

It’s still bad, but I remember kind of a lighter story. I remember as a kid, my mom told me that I couldn’t wear flip flops in the winter cause my toes needed to be covered. So I would just wear those ugly toe socks. Do you remember those?

Sharon (02:26):

Oh my goodness. I do remember those.

Nicole (02:27):

They’re awful.

Sharon (02:28):

They are.

Nicole (02:29):

But I would wear those and be like, Look mom, my toes are covered and out the door I would go. So.

Sharon (02:34):

Nicole.

Nicole (02:35):

That was my little rebellion. Yes. But it’s funny though, cause one of my kiddos is just like I used to be and will obey just enough not to outright be in trouble, but boy oh boy does she like to tweak the rules like I used to.

Sharon (02:48):

Uh, huh.

Nicole (02:48):

And I feel like God is trying to teach me something as her mom. So I definitely have had some worse moments of rebellion with more serious consequences. But we don’t have time for all that today.

Sharon (02:58):

Uh huh, yeah, yeah. Maybe some other day Nicole.

Nicole (02:59):

Maybe some other day.

Nicole (03:01):

Maybe some other day.

Sharon (03:02):

Your mother’s probably smiling at that child that’s a lot like you and going, Mm-hmm.

Nicole (03:06):

Yes. I prayed for that child. How about you Sharon? Any rebellions you wanna talk about?

Sharon (03:11):

Well, there’s certainly been rebellion. I think all of us have, and I don’t wanna talk about some of it. Thank God for his kindness and forgiveness and washing me clean. (Nicole: Yes) My rebellion has often taken the form of being determined to do something I’m told I will be unable to do. (Nicole: Mmm) I just determine to work harder or find another way to do whatever it is. I’ve definitely hurt myself doing this. I remember wanting to enter marriage without college debt, which is a good thing. But this meant working several jobs while studying and maintaining my good grade point average. I pushed myself hard. The summer before I got married, I worked for a Christian radio station south of Boston.

Nicole (03:50):

Oh, fun.

Sharon (03:51):

So my commute was long. I had to go through Boston at rush hour every day and the hours were too. And I of course also wanted to do all the fun things in the summer. And I’m getting ready for a wedding. (Nicole: Yeah) So I cheated on sleep, basically. (Nicole: Oh no, yeah) It all came tumbling down one weekend when I was house sitting and had a severe attack of vertigo. (Nicole: Oh my) I was all alone in the house, Nicole. Far away from home on the South Shore of Boston. My parents were two hours away.

Nicole (04:16):

Oh my goodness.

Sharon (04:16):

I could not stop the room from spinning no matter what. I literally crawled along the hall to the guest bathroom bumping the walls on either side.

Nicole (04:25):

Oh my word. Oh, wow.

Sharon (04:26):

Because I couldn’t, I couldn’t, I don’t know. I don’t understand.

Nicole (04:29):

It was like your own personal earthquake.

Sharon (04:30):

I’ve never been drunk in my life but if that’s what it feels like to be drunk and I’ve been told it is, why?

Nicole (04:35):

Uh, no.

Sharon (04:35):

I just, why? I don’t get it. Okay. So anyways, the people for whom I was house sitting found me there sitting in the bathroom on the floor. God had prompted them to come back that night instead of the next day.

Nicole (04:46):

Oh my goodness.

Sharon (04:47):

And they took me straight to the hospital. I was that bad off. I had about a week of dizziness and recuperation.

Nicole (04:52):

Mm-hmm.

Sharon (04:52):

I had literally worn my body out with a rebellion against the need for sleep.

Nicole (04:57):

Mm-hmm.

Sharon (04:57):

I just wanted to push for my goal despite my parents’ concerns. And Sharon, we think you’re pushing too hard. Oh, I can do it.

Nicole (05:06):

Oh yes.

Sharon (05:06):

Mmm. Yeah. I have to remember that sometimes when something seems too hard, it’s actually time to stop and seek the Lord again. Is this his will? Or is it my own stubborn will? One thing’s for sure. Rebellion ends up with serious consequences.

Nicole (05:22):

It does. That’s a great question. I love that. If it starts to get really hard to stop and ask God, is this your will or is it my own stubborn will cause sometimes that line gets a little blurred.

Sharon (05:32):

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole (05:32):

I giggle listening to your story. Cause we are so similar in that way too. There’s been so many times where I have like determined to do something and at the advice of my husband, Maybe you shouldn’t. It seems like a lot. No, I can do it. No, I can’t. I’m not anymore super human than the next. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) I need just as much sleep, water, rest, food (Sharon: Yep) as the next person. But you know, you force yourself.

Sharon (05:52):

You push beyond what you ought to push.

Nicole (05:54):

Yeah. And there’s consequences.

Sharon (05:55):

And that’s rebellion.

Nicole (05:56):

It is. It is.

Sharon (05:57):

Rebellion about the way God wired us.

Nicole (05:59):

Yeah. You wanna do what you wanna do at the expense of your body even.

Sharon (06:02):

Yeah.

Nicole (06:02):

It’s not good. Well, now, we’re gonna go look at David’s rebellion this week and his repentance next week. So we’ll start with his rebellion and then repentance. So we’ve divided it into three sections. And Sharon, why don’t you introduce our first section.

Sharon (06:16):

Okay, here we go. We’ve talked about our rebellion, but sadly now we’ve gotta enter into a really hard passage. I’m gonna call the first section ‘Turning Off the Path’. And before I read our passage, I wanna talk about a theory of mine that was formed earlier in these podcasts. It’s that “too many wives lead to trouble” theory. When God first created Adam, he gave him exactly one wife. The two were joined as one flesh. And there they were, just the two of them, Nicole.

Nicole (06:47):

Yep.

Sharon (06:48):

Even Noah had one wife and so did his sons as far as we know. It’s not until a little later that we see multiple wives sort of accepted by God’s people, starting with Abraham. And we know how badly that went, when Sarah asked him to sleep with Hagar. It didn’t go well for Jacob either when he was forced to marry both Leah and Rachel. In fact, I cannot think of one time in scripture where there was a report of harmony with more than one wife. Remember Samuel’s mother? Hannah?

Nicole (07:15):

Oh, yeah.

Sharon (07:15):

She was picked on by Peninnah.

Nicole (07:17):

She was so bullied. Yes.

Sharon (07:17):

Yeah, because she didn’t have any kids.

Nicole (07:20):

Wow.

Sharon (07:20):

It’s just not good (Nicole: No) to have more than one wife. But David, my goodness, Nicole, I asked you to find out about his wives. How many did he have?

Nicole (07:28):

Eight. David had at least eight wives. How in the world do you bond with that many women? Good heavens. I feel like I barely get enough of my own husband’s time now. And I’m his only wife.

Sharon (07:38):

And he’s not a king of a realm.

Nicole (07:40):

He’s not a king. No!

Sharon (07:41):

Good gravy.

Nicole (07:42):

So it’s, I think it could only lead to trouble. It’s just you’re, you can’t bond. You can’t be there and be everything you need to be to eight different women, at least.

Sharon (07:50):

No, you cannot.

Nicole (07:50):

I think he had,

Sharon (07:51):

Well he had all these concubines too.

Nicole (07:53):

Concubines, too. Right? I couldn’t remember if he, I know Solomon had a lot of concubines.

Sharon (07:55):

Yeah. Yeah. But no, even David did, but Solomon like tripled it all. He had thousands of wives and stuff.

Sharon (08:01):

I know. It’s too many people to connect with, even briefly.

Sharon (08:03):

It is.

Nicole (08:04):

It’s just too much.

Sharon (08:05):

Yeah. You know what, and if you’ve pledged yourself to one, then all your heart and all your focus is on blessing that one. And I believe that’s the way God wanted it to be. So I think David kind of treated women like a prize collection of fancy cars. (Nicole: Oh yeah) You know?

Nicole (08:22):

Cause the description of most of them that he made were they were very beautiful or intelligent.

Sharon (08:25):

Yeah. He liked them or they had a purpose. They were, you know, some king of some other country’s daughter.

Nicole (08:30):

Yes.

Sharon (08:30):

And then they made an alliance because of it. He cared about them, but they were kind of a clump. This is my collection.

Nicole (08:37):

Right.

Sharon (08:37):

Right?

Nicole (08:37):

My wives, plural.

Sharon (08:38):

Yeah. A group. There was no one and only, and I can’t imagine how little time he had to spend with his kids. Right?

Nicole (08:44):

Right. Oh yeah.

Sharon (08:45):

How in the world does he develop relationships with his children? So, so in my opinion, his trouble started, this trouble that we’re gonna talk about (Nicole: Yeah) when he collected wives. Remember,

Nicole (08:56):

Think about it.

Sharon (08:57):

Oh, go ahead.

Nicole (08:57):

Oh no. Well, you think about it, if you only meet with your wife just once and you have some money, you might feel guilty and start to try to like appease them in ways that you shouldn’t, that might go against God.

Sharon (09:06):

Right. Right, Right.

Nicole (09:07):

It’s not good.

Sharon (09:08):

Over and over. It’s not good. No, it’s not. I was thinking of Abigail (Nicole: Yeah) that we talked about a few weeks ago. And, Abigail obviously needed help when her husband died, of some kind, but David didn’t need to marry her.

Nicole (09:19):

No. He did not need to marry her. He could have found her a lovely man.

Sharon (09:21):

For crying out loud, or maybe she could have found herself a lovely man for a change.

Nicole (09:25):

Or, she could have enjoyed running the house by herself without her horrible husband.

Sharon (09:28):

Yes. Yes. So this is,

Nicole (09:30):

It’s a good theory. I like it.

Sharon (09:32):

Yeah. It’s just a theory. I am not a seminarian. I just have this thing about all these wives and I just don’t believe it’s right or good or best. So there we go. All right. I’m gonna read now after that very long-winded introduction to a very short passage about turning off of the path. So, I’m gonna be reading 2 Samuel 11:1-3. “In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon after his midday rest David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told she is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah, the Hittite.” So here we are. This is the beginning of it. This is where he starts to stray. He hasn’t done anything quote, wrong, necessarily in a big way yet, but he’s done some wrong things anyways. And I’m gonna list them. And then Nicole, I’m gonna ask you to apply it to life today. All right?

Nicole (10:46):

Yes. Sure.

Sharon (10:47):

So here we go. Number one, and we’ve kind of started with this. David chose to indulge himself with too many women. We’ve already established he had wives, he had concubines. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So he’d created a habit. So Nicole, what do we allow too much of into our lives? What do we indulge ourselves with that’s not wise?

Nicole (11:07):

Ooh. Kind of the same thing, with pleasure and leisure and screen time and binge watching all of our Netflix. There’s so many ways. Too much dessert. Too much just (Sharon: Mm-hmm) you know, lounging on the couch. It just feels like we’re kind of an indulgent, (Sharon: Yes) whatever we want. Too many cars, if you’re, you know?

Sharon (11:24):

Yes.

Nicole (11:24):

Too many clothes, shoes, anything.

Sharon (11:26):

Right. Right. When there’s people that could use our money.

Nicole (11:29):

Yeah.

Sharon (11:30):

You know, I can remember a thrift store lady saying to me, I don’t mind if you have a green sweater and a brown and a blue, but do you have to have five green sweaters? Couldn’t you share with people that have none?

Nicole (11:40):

Yeah.

Sharon (11:40):

Right?

Nicole (11:41):

If you have two to share, you have one spare.

Sharon (11:43):

There you go.

Nicole (11:44):

Veggie Tales.

Sharon (11:45):

Yep, yep, yep. Good to know this. So indulgence might be a Oh, little sin. And maybe we can’t, we can’t define accurately when we go from, uh, good enjoyment of something that’s good. (Nicole: Yes, yep) to indulging. But indulge-ment is a sin. And it can walk us off the path.

Nicole (12:03):

Yes. And it can start with, oh, just this one thing. And these things aren’t bad in and of themselves if they’re used cautiously in the right place. (Sharon: Mmm-hmm) But when your one dessert for special things becomes several times a day or every night, it’s gonna have consequences.

Sharon (12:15):

It’s gonna have consequences.

Nicole (12:17):

Or if you’re watching, Oh, let’s have a, a movie night. And then it becomes every day for hours, that can become an indulgence.

Sharon (12:23):

Exactly.

Nicole (12:23):

To keep you from what you need to do.

Sharon (12:24):

Exactly. Yeah.

Nicole (12:24):

So you have to be really careful.

Sharon (12:25):

Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole (12:26):

A slippery slope.

Sharon (12:26):

So I think indulging himself with too many women made him more attracted to yet another one because he trained his mind to like lots of women, not just one.

Nicole (12:36):

Right. And not be content with the one.

Sharon (12:38):

Yes Ma’am.

Nicole (12:38):

Oh, right.

Sharon (12:39):

Yeah. That’s my theory. There we go. All right. Number two, sin number two, where he’s strayed off the path. David chose to stay behind in Jerusalem when his job as king was to be at the head of his troops. He took naps. He wandered about the castle, just staring at things, and women. So, we can run away from responsibilities too. What are some of the things that we can run away from? Because running away from responsibilities and distracting ourselves with other things is also, can lead to sin.

Nicole (13:08):

Right. Absolutely.

Sharon (13:09):

Got any ideas?

Nicole (13:10):

Oh goodness. My least favorite thing is bill paying. And I think when I have to do that, I try to distract myself from, you know, pushing it off. Procrastination. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) I think just taking care of what we need to take care of. If you have a job or if you are, right now I’m a stay at home mom, so what if I don’t wanna make supper? I can push that off but what is my kid gonna have, you know?

Sharon (13:27):

Right. Right. Peanut butter and jelly tonight kids.

Nicole (13:29):

Right. So I think that we can just run from what God has given us to do, whatever he’s placed before us.

Sharon (13:36):

Yeah, yeah, I agree. Sometimes you just have to do the job tired.

Nicole (13:39):

Yeah. Even if you don’t want to, just, all right, just make something for supper.

Sharon (13:42):

Right. And David clearly was sick of war and battle and didn’t wanna play, but he is making everybody else go out and fight.

Nicole (13:48):

Right. Maybe he should have rested all of them.

Sharon (13:50):

Right. I know it. So, so there’s another way that we can stray from the path. When we start to avoid responsibilities instead of just doing them.

Nicole (13:58):

We get into trouble.

Sharon (13:59):

We get into trouble. We absolutely do.

Nicole (14:01):

What is it, those idle hands do something?

Sharon (14:02):

Yeah. are the devil’s workshop.

Nicole (14:05):

Yes. There we go. Like there’s something about idle hands.

Sharon (14:07):

Yes. Yes. Ben Franklin.

Nicole (14:07):

We’re just like, we have too much time on our hands.

Sharon (14:09):

Yeah. Yeah.

Nicole (14:10):

We have too much time in our hands. Trouble.

Sharon (14:11):

Trouble. Yeah. So that was number two. And then number three, David chose to focus on a woman bathing instead of averting his eyes. Once we recognize the temptation, we’re not supposed to keep going. So what are some examples of where it’s easy to keep going when we know we should be not doing it anymore?

Nicole (14:32):

Yeah. That’s a great— For me, I’m a big reader, so I’ll pick up a book and start reading and go, Oh, this is not what I was expecting in that. Do I keep going? Cause it’s a great story.

Sharon (14:40):

And you wanna finish it? Yes. Yes.

Nicole (14:41):

You wanna find out what happened. I have a big thing of like finishing a book, but I’ve had to put down several books and sometimes I haven’t. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) But when I do, it’s not terrible. God doesn’t, I’m not left hanging. But yeah. Trying to, to stop, start watching a movie, something inappropriate comes on.

Sharon (14:53):

Yes. Yes. Exactly. I’ve done that with several shows that start out so decent and I think we found a decent show!

Nicole (14:59):

There’s hope. Yes.

Sharon (15:00):

And then it deteriorates.

Nicole (15:03):

And it’s shocking how quickly, and you’re like, Oh, well do we power through and just fast forward, do we stop watching it?

Sharon (15:08):

Right.

Nicole (15:08):

So you have to ask yourself those questions.

Sharon (15:10):

Right.

Nicole (15:10):

And for, you know, men in particular, but even women looking at another man, like, Oh, look at those muscles. Look at that. Whatever we have to be

Sharon (15:16):

We have to avert our eyes, yeah.

Nicole (15:18):

Our eyes see but we have to control dwelling on what we’re seeing. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) And that’s the thing. Our eyes are gonna see the things, the things are all around us.

Sharon (15:25):

Right.

Nicole (15:26):

But are we gonna keep watching or are we gonna look away?

Sharon (15:27):

Are we gonna walk away?

Nicole (15:29):

My dad always said he bounces his eyes. He used to work in an area where there was lots of college students.

Sharon (15:34):

That’s awesome. He bounces his eyes.

Nicole (15:35):

Yep. He would bounce his eyes away. He would look at all the girls and bounce his eyes away cause it’s just, they’re everywhere. Didn’t have to look.

Sharon (15:39):

Yeah, exactly so.

Nicole (15:42):

But I thought that was a good little thing.

Sharon (15:42):

Yeah, yeah. So David should have bounced his eyes. He should have gone, Whoa, there’s a woman bathing. I need to walk away now and distract myself.

Nicole (15:51):

Before he asked and he found out she was a wife. But even then he should’ve been like, All right, she’s a wife.

Sharon (15:54):

Yeah. Well that goes back to indulging oneself with too many women.

Nicole (15:58):

True.

Sharon (15:58):

Yeah, exactly. So even then, even with these three sins that we’ve already seen, the indulging, the avoiding responsibilities. (Nicole: Yeah) The staring at a woman, he still could have walked away from greater sin. But the problem is once you start going off the path, it’s easier to stay off the path then to find your way back on the path.

Nicole (16:18):

Yes. Because sin is so easy, it’s our natural bent. So once we start down, it’s like, Oh, this isn’t quite as hard as trying to follow God. We just kind of roll on.

Sharon (16:28):

We kind of roll with it. That’s right. Ugh.

Nicole (16:31):

It’s so painful to watch him start to fall into sin.

Sharon (16:33):

Yes.

Nicole (16:34):

No, David, especially since we know where this will lead him and the pain it will cause, not only for David, but for so many people around him. And for generations after.

Sharon (16:43):

For generations, sin hurts more than just us.

Nicole (16:46):

Yes. So David doesn’t walk away. He becomes fixated on getting what he wants at any cost. So I’ll read the next section now. It’s 2 Samuel 11:4-5. “Then David sent messengers to get her. And when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rights after having her menstrual period, then she returned home. Later when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message saying, I’m pregnant.”

Sharon (17:16):

Oh boy.

Nicole (17:17):

So the deed is done, and the consequences are more than David probably bargained for. With Uriah, her husband out at war, Bathsheba was in a terrible predicament. (Sharon: Mm-hmm) Back then, a woman could be killed and they stoned them to death for adultery.

Sharon (17:30):

Yeah.

Nicole (17:30):

Not even killed quickly.

Sharon (17:32):

Yeah.

Nicole (17:32):

Pretty horribly.

Sharon (17:32):

A slow death.

Nicole (17:33):

Oh, it’s awful. And her husband had been away, so she would’ve been found guilty as soon as she started to show her pregnancy. I would imagine.

Sharon (17:39):

I would think.

Nicole (17:40):

I don’t know if there was any mercy involved back then, if she was pregnant. I only found out things that dealt with the adultery directly. But it would not have been pleasant for her either way.

Sharon (17:48):

No, it would not. No, it would not.

Nicole (17:50):

Not good.

Sharon (17:51):

Yeah. Okay. So David has made some bad choices that have led to a dreadful sin. You know, he’s slept with a woman that’s not his wife, is another man’s wife. And as usually the case with sin, there’s consequences. Now there’s a little baby.

Nicole (18:06):

Yes.

Sharon (18:06):

Being formed in the womb. This would’ve been a great time for David to confess the sin and take his punishment. Although, wow, it would’ve been really bad. But instead he tries to cover it up and compounds the sin with more sin. Nicole, we can’t really run away, even though sometimes we want to, when we try and David’s gonna try to run.

Nicole (18:25):

Nope. It’s kind of like trying to cover a bullet wound with a band aid.

Sharon (18:28):

Oh, that’s a good way to say it.

Nicole (18:30):

The bullet needs to be removed and the wound cleaned, covering it up only makes it fester and the wound to grow worse. So we can certainly see this and that as the passage goes on, that everything David does to cover it up only leads to more pain and trouble.

Sharon (18:43):

I love that example of the bullet and the bandaid.

Nicole (18:45):

Yeah. He just kinda lies to cover it.

Sharon (18:47):

Just kind of hiding it. (Nicole: Yeah) The bullet’s still there and it’s gonna cause infection.

Nicole (18:51):

God’s like, you gotta come to me, I gotta get that out of your arm.

Sharon (18:53):

Yes, It’s gonna hurt, but it’s gonna hurt more if we have to amputate your arm.

Nicole (18:57):

Absolutely.

Sharon (18:58):

Right. Okay. So this is the longer section, so let’s read it together.

Nicole (19:01):

All right.

Sharon (19:01):

I’m gonna start at verse six and let’s read to the end of the chapter, verse 27. So verse six, “Then David sent word to Joab. Send me Uriah the Hittite. So Joab sent him to David.”

Nicole (19:12):

“When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing.”

Sharon (19:17):

“Then he told Uriah, Go on home and relax. David even sent a gift to Uriah after he left the palace.”

Nicole (19:24):

“But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.”

Sharon (19:29):

“When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?”

Nicole (19:37):

“Uriah replied, The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open field. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear I would never do such a thing.”

Sharon (19:49):

Pausing here. Boy, does that just show the difference between a noble heart, which this time is Uriah’s?

Nicole (19:56):

Yes.

Sharon (19:57):

Oh, David, I bet you were just shamed by that.

Nicole (20:01):

right to the heart there

Sharon (20:01):

Yeah.

Nicole (20:01):

Goodness.

Sharon (20:03):

“Well stay here today, David told him, and tomorrow you may return to the army. So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day, and the next.”

Nicole (20:10):

You can feel David’s panic rising, you know?

Sharon (20:12):

Oh yeah.

Nicole (20:13):

“Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn’t get your Uriah to go home to his wife again. He slept at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.”

Sharon (20:23):

“So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver.”

Nicole (20:28):

“The letter instructed Joab, Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest, then pull back. So he’ll be killed.”

Sharon (20:37):

(Man) “So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting.”

Nicole (20:45):

“And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed, along with several other Israelite soldiers.”

Sharon (20:51):

Oh my goodness. Not just Uriah, but several others.

Nicole (20:53):

Yeah. That were with him.

Sharon (20:55):

(Wow. Wow, wow.) “Then Joab sent a battle report to David.”

Nicole (20:58):

“He told his messenger, Report all the news of the battle to the king.”

Sharon (21:01):

“But he might get angry and ask, Well, why did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be shooting from the walls?”

Nicole (21:08):

“Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideon killed at Thebes by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why would you get so close to the wall? Then tell him Uriah, the Hittite, was killed too.”

Sharon (21:21):

Oh, a little message there.

Nicole (21:22):

Mm-hmm.

Sharon (21:23):

“So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to David.”

Nicole (21:27):

“The enemy came out against us in the open fields, he said, and we chased them back to the city gate.”

Sharon (21:32):

“And the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah, the Hittite.”

Nicole (21:39):

“Well tell Joab not to be discouraged, David said, the sword devours this one today and that one tomorrow. Fight harder next time and conquer the city.”

Sharon (21:47):

Good grief. He’s justifying it right there, isn’t he?

Nicole (21:50):

He is.

Sharon (21:50):

He’s like, Well, people die.

Nicole (21:51):

He didn’t even blink. Oh, that’s awful.

Sharon (21:54):

I know. And I, I didn’t realize until this reading of it, even though I’ve read this a million times, it wasn’t just David. (Nicole: No) They got too close to the city walls and other, I mean, it wasn’t just Uriah, (Nicole: Right) Excuse me, It was other soldiers as well.

Nicole (22:05):

He lost several good men.

Sharon (22:07):

So he’s guilty for more than one man’s death. (Nicole: Mm-hmm, Oh!) Wow. Is it my turn?

Nicole (22:12):

Yes.

Sharon (22:14):

“When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.”

Nicole (22:18):

(Oh.) “When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with what David had done.”

Sharon (22:30):

Yikes. So now David has dabbled in having way too many women, stayed home when he should have been working, slept with a woman, not his wife, and basically killed not only her husband, but the other soldiers around him. You know, verse 27, where it says, But the Lord was displeased. (Nicole: Yes) Feels like a bit of an understatement. Right?

Nicole (22:49):

It does.

Sharon (22:50):

God was not pleased at all. So remember the David we admired, the man who ran to God in troubles? What do you think his relationship with God is like now, Nicole?

Nicole (22:59):

Oh, this is really hard to consider. It’s been so beautiful to see his life as that young shepherd boy, you know, singing praises to his God in the field.

Sharon (23:06):

I know.

Nicole (23:07):

And soon it to be a king fleeing for his life and defending others. And all the while staying close to God. And even seeing him as an early king and dancing for joy before the Lord, and worshiping him and wanting to build a temple. And now to see where he is. You know, his relationship must be affected. (Sharon: Yes) We don’t hear about him getting up early in the morning to meet with God anymore. (Sharon: No) He was out early in the morning, but his eyes were wandering and not seeking his savior. Sin is really good at keeping us from God.

Sharon (23:33):

Oh, it sure is. When, when we have sin in our hearts, we don’t want to meet with God. Cause God will bring it up.

Nicole (23:41):

Yes. And so we distract ourselves with other things.

Sharon (23:43):

Right.

Nicole (23:43):

Like beautiful women bathing across the way.

Sharon (23:45):

Uhhuh, we just don’t wanna acknowledge it. (Nicole: Yep) Yeah. Sin has such far reaching consequences.

Nicole (23:51):

It does. No wonder God warns us to stay on the path, Sharon. It’s like there’s wild animals out there and there’s pits to fall into and cliffs to plunge over. And I think we should close out with these verses that warn us to stay on the path. We’ve seen the consequences of straying. So let’s hear from God’s word and his good counsel to stay where he leads, even in what seems to be small matters.

Sharon (24:11):

Yeah. Especially in the small matters, because that’s where the trouble begins.

Nicole (24:15):

Yes, absolutely. It’s the little things, those little paths. So, yeah. All right. Um, I’ll start with Psalm 16:11. It says, “You make known to me the path of life, and you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

Sharon (24:29):

Yeah. So there we go. Eternal pleasures come when? When you’re on the path of life.

Nicole (24:34):

Yes. Eternal and not fleeting ones that will hurt and have bad consequences.

Sharon (24:38):

Right. Right. Right, right, right. So, and he makes known to us that path of life.

Nicole (24:42):

He does.

Sharon (24:42):

He really does. If we just stay in his word. I feel like David read The Ten Commandments a time or seven. Thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not murder. (Nicole: Yeah) All those things. There they were. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) So, so yeah. So that’s good counsel. We need to stay on the path of life. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) And that’s where, that’s where we get the joy in his presence. I just noticed that part. You will fill me with joy in your presence.

Nicole (25:06):

Yeah.

Sharon (25:06):

Where, where are we gonna know his presence most? On the path as he’s walking beside us, without us trying to duck him and hide from him?

Nicole (25:13):

Well, that’s where David got his joy as a young boy, as a young, younger person. (Sharon: Yeah) He met with him and he got the joy to continue with his, the tough part of his life.

Sharon (25:21):

Yeah. The Lord is my shepherd. Yeah. He was so happy to be walking with the paths of righteousness. (Nicole: Yes) That’s from Psalm 23. (Nicole: Yeah) So I didn’t choose that one, but yeah. So, okay. Jeremiah 6:16, another one about paths. “This is what the Lord says. Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old godly way and walk in it, travel it’s path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, No, that’s not the road we want.”

Nicole (25:50):

Mm-hmm.

Sharon (25:53):

Yeah. So, so hard.

Nicole (25:55):

That’s so good though. Stop and look around. I love that. And ask for the old godly ways. So maybe when we’re struggling, if we can’t find a way back to that quiet place with God, seek the wisdom of others, of Christians around us that are. (Sharon: Right) We find someone who has the joy of the Lord and say, how are you getting that right now? I’m struggling.

Sharon (26:11):

Yes. Yes.

Nicole (26:11):

I don’t, I’ve fallen, my relationship’s broken with God. I don’t know how to get back there.

Sharon (26:15):

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nicole (26:16):

Ask for the old godly ways. They work.

Sharon (26:18):

They do. They do. We don’t need newfangled stuff.

Nicole (26:21):

No.

Sharon (26:21):

We really don’t. Let’s stick with prayer. Let’s stick with reading the Bible. Let’s stick with fellowship.

Nicole (26:26):

Yes.

Sharon (26:27):

You remember those holy habits we talked about?

Nicole (26:29):

Oh, yes.

Sharon (26:29):

Long ago and far away. (Nicole: Yep) Old godly ways.

Nicole (26:32):

They’re still relevant.

Sharon (26:33):

They’re still relevant.

Nicole (26:33):

Absolutely.

Sharon (26:34):

Oh my goodness.

Nicole (26:35):

And then Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

Sharon (26:43):

Well, there we go. Where are we supposed to be looking? In his Word.

Nicole (26:46):

Yes.

Sharon (26:47):

And boy, oh boy, just a few days away from reading the Bible, you can forget. It’s so sad.

Nicole (26:53):

Oh, yes.

Sharon (26:54):

We are very good at forgetting.

Nicole (26:55):

We are. Sometimes by afternoon. I’ll be angry and grumpy and go, Oh, I read that verse about being slow to anger and I’m not being slow to anger. I’m sorry God.

Sharon (27:02):

Sorry. I need to go back and read it again.

Nicole (27:03):

Yes. So prolonged absences from his word. Oh goodness. It’s not good.

Sharon (27:07):

Mm-hmm.

Nicole (27:07):

Our heart’s just desperately wicked, above all things.

Sharon (27:08):

Right. Yeah. It is. It is. And if we want the path lit, we’ve gotta be reminded over and over again of the old, godly ways. (Nicole: Yeah) And stay on the path. (Yeah) That’s the lesson here. The rebellious soul wants to wander off the path and do their own deal. (Yep) They get stuck in briars. They have the bullet under the skin that’s starting to fester. (Yeah) Um, and if we just stayed on the path, life would’ve been so much better. Oh my goodness.

Nicole (27:37):

That’s so true.

Sharon (27:37):

So, oh my goodness. Well, we’re gonna talk next week about forgiveness, which is a really good thing, because it’s really hard to leave this in rebellion but,

Nicole (27:44):

It is, I forgot we’re ending on this part.

Sharon (27:46):

I Know. But, let’s pray about rebellion today. I’ll pray. Oh, Father God, we’ve all had times of rebellion. We’ve had times we are willing to share on a podcast and things that we don’t wanna share in a podcast because it’s so painful. And yet, Father, you’re always so willing to forgive. And I thank you for that. And I thank you that even David, who was so, so wrong in this case, found his way back to you. And that gives me hope for every single person on the planet. You always give us a way back, Lord. There’s always a path to walk if we look for it. Father, show us the path this week, the old godly ways. Help us to eagerly step out on that path alone and enjoy the joy of your presence and look forward to the eternal pleasures that come from walking with you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole (28:47):

Amen. It’s amazing to think that David could do something that horrible and yet be forgiven. It sure gives hope to you and me when we sin. I can’t wait to look at David next week in episode 91, The Repentant Heart. Until then, keep listening and watching to all we have available for you at Sweet Selah Ministries. Want to receive a very short email once a week that summarizes all we do each week? Email Sharon at Sharon@SweetSelah.org to get on our list. You’ll learn about our blogs, our YouTubes, our wonderful Refuge Retreat in New Hampshire’s gorgeous mountain and lake region, and so much more. Sign up today and let’s stay on the path, friend, shall we? This episode has made me realize just how important that is.

Speaker 1 (29:31):

We are so glad you stopped for a while with us. The Sweet Selah Moments Podcast is a cooperative production of Word Radio and Sweet Selah Ministries. More information about this podcast can be found @SweetSelah.org. Thank you for joining us.