At His Feet

3/14/23: 2 Samuel 12

Greed and covetousness can lead anyone to sin against people and God.

2 Samuel 12:7-9

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you all of Israel and Judah. And if all of this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what was is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.'

My mind is blown; God gave David EVERYTHING and yet after David sinned, God told him "Look, why did you sin? I literally gave you everything that never even belonged to you. If that was too small I would have given you more."

There's no need to covet someone else's things or their lives because if we're in Christ, we got everything we need. It's crazy but so beautiful that if we want something, we can Simply ASK God for what we need and want instead of coveting the things we want. This is why I need to guard my heart; lately, I've been wrestling with anxious thoughts; my job and how it's not paying as much as my old job; how different it is being in front of the house rather than back of the house - dealing with the customers and trying to keep the feeling of fear and like I'm a loser at bay. I know the anxieties are playing with me and I know I am not a loser but feelings can be very hard to push aside or ignore and one moment of weakness can mean I, too, can sin against God and people.

David fell in a moment of weakness. He wasn't where he was supposed to be; After he became king, war broke out and instead of going to fight (like all kings did), David stayed behind and sent someone else in his stead. While on the roof, he overlooks the kingdom and then sees a naked woman bathing; her name was Bathsheba. Now watch how quickly this escalates; David sees the woman bathing and asks his servant who she is. He's clearly told that she's Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah (one of David's loyal soldiers.) David then asks that she be brought to him.

It is done and David ends up sleeping with her and knocking her up. Months later, she tells him she's pregnant.

Now keep this in mind: David already had wives - plenty of women to get jiggy with it. He had a castle and was in charge of both Israel and Judah. He had power, prestige, and Influence - many battles God gave into David's hand and David did not have to fight for any of it. He simply obeyed God and God did all the work.

Yet, the moment David saw another man's wife and desired her - David took what did not belong to him. Then, after the pregnancy, David had to fight to either hide his sin or simply keep what he stole. He let his guard down in a moment of weakness - the same thing I do in my moment of fear and anxiety or anger.

I was watching the Lord of the Rings the other day (great movies btw) and in Return of the King, we see just how crazy greed can make a person. Smeagol and Frodo became engulfed by the ring and they described it as being in the dark; alone with the eye always on them and they have forgotten the taste of food; the feeling of grass on their feet; the breeze on their faces; they even get to the point where their identity was being robbed of them. The ring brought out the sinfulness in a person's heart and greed was definitely one of them. In the end, they fought over the ring due to it and one ends up dead.

Covetous may seem small but small things grow and if nurtured, they become a deadly rage. The best option is to be a child and run to our Father God and simply ask Him for things. We need to have the armor because along with asking, we need the discipline to OBEY when our Father says yes or no. But keep this in mind: even if it's a no, God knows what is best for us and has far better things for us than what we want at the moment. That's where faith plays in: we need to keep the faith and trust that God will do what is best because he does care.

Heck, if God was willing to give David more than what He already did; imagine how much more God promises to give us!