It was in the spring of the year... when kings led their armies to war. David had always done this because he was a self-confident and brave man... but in the spring of this particular year, he stayed home. I don't know why David didn't go to war on this one occasion, but I do know that he saw a woman bathing from his rooftop. Some men would've turned away, but David took in her beauty, and found out who she was and sent men over to her (and her husband's) home .. to bring her back to him. They did as they were told and she did too. His men brought her to him and the two of them had sex. If you can get beyond the immense power differences between them, their tryst had the look of a one-night stand. Bat-Sheba went back to her life and continued to wait for her husband, Uriah, to return from battle... because that's where he was- putting his life on the line for the king whom he adored.
One could call their night a "conquest,"or maybe David initiated the sin simply because he could. But things went wrong when David discovered that his lover was pregnant. Some men would've confessed their sin at that point... and paid whatever the fiddler was charging. But David was concerned about his reputation... and he hatched a plan to obscure his role in the pregnancy. He sent for Uriah, and when the warrior reported to him, David couldn't praise him enough. You're my kind of man, he told Uriah, and you need a little TLC... so get over to your home and "wash your feet." If Uriah would have sex with his own wife, he'd always consider the child to be his. However, Uriah didn't have sex with Bathsheba. He bunked down with his comrades instead, and David was not pleased with Uriah's character and resolve. Stay one more night, he told him, and hang out with me. Uriah was thrilled to have personal time with his king, and the two of them drank well into the night. No one knows how much they drank, but David was sure that they had consumed enough to "loosen Uriah up." However, Uriah did not weaken, which prompted David to employ plan B. He wrote a note to Joab, telling him to abandon Uriah on the front line, and Joab, who was no poet in the first place, did just that. Uriah died that day, in the line of duty... and David was home free,
Except that God had seen it all, and he sent his prophet, Nathan, to tell David a story. There was a rich man, who had a huge flock of sheep, and this rich man lived near a poor man, who had one lamb, who was a family pet. The kids loved to play with the lamb, whom they called "Billy." Well, one day, the rich man had an important visitor, who expected a meal... but he didn't want to lose one of his own lambs. So, he took the poor man's only lamb and fed it to his guest, Nathan asked, "What do you think of that, David"? And the great King was outraged. Any man who would do what you just described should be put to death, he shouted! Then, in one of the Bible's better known lines, Nathan replied, "You are that man!" You are that man, and this child will die. Indeed, because of what you did, a scarlet thread of blood will plague your family from this day on.
Isn't that the way it always goes? Sin will always keep you longer than you intended to sat, and it will always cost you more than you intended to pay! David was in the wrong place, or at the very least, he lingered in the wrong place. David opened the wrong door. He knew that nothing really good could come from this sin, but he opened the door to possibility anyway; David made the wrong decision. As soon as he learned that Bathsheba was another man's wife, he should've let the idea go... but he sent for her anyway; 4) And he made another wrong decision when he decided that covering his sin up was better than confessing it; 5) And he made an inexplicably bad choice when he chose to "murder" Uriah. Wrong place, wrong couple, wrong agenda, manipulation, abuse of power, violation of trust. A night of conquest leading to progressively deeper sins and increasingly higher costs. That's always the way it goes... and sin will always weaken your relationship with God. Your guilt will choke off your prayer life, and if the sin goes on long enough, it will damage your relationship with Christian friends. However you can never be too far gone for God because God loves a contrite heart. David was forgiven (read Ps. 51). Chuck Colson was forgiven. I was forgiven. Any one who trusts in God will be a new creation. This is the truth of it, but beware: most of those who fall away from God's grace,,, will not have the humility to come back to Him on their knees.
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