{"id":33778,"date":"2024-12-15T22:00:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T05:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-samuel_10_1-19-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-12-03T17:54:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T00:54:54","slug":"2-samuel_11_1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2-samuel_11_1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do With This Chance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Samuel\u00a0 11:1-13\u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Samuel 11:1-13.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/em><\/p>\n

2 Samuel 11:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-4: \u00a0Notice the factors that led to David’s fall into adultery:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0David forgets his identity and neglects his responsibilities.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0At a time when kings were supposed to go to war, David sent all of his men to fight but he himself stayed home (v1).\u00a0 Forgetting, or neglecting, his identity and responsibilities as king, David was not where he was supposed to be. \u00a0When we forget our identity and neglect our responsibilities, we can find ourselves in places we were never meant to be.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. \u00a0David was alone. \u00a0<\/strong>Isolation can be dangerous. \u00a0When we are isolated and alone, not connected to anyone who can hold us accountable, that is when we can be especially susceptible to temptation.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0That’s why it’s important to be connected to Christian community.\u00a0 Just the presence of Christian friends can help keep us in check.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0David acts on his desire.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0From the rooftop of his house, David notices Bathsheba bathing, finds out who she is and has her brought to his palace (v2-3) where he sleeps with her (v4).\u00a0 Some try to place part of the blame on Bathsheba for allowing herself to be seen that way, but Scripture seems to place the responsibility squarely on David’s shoulders.\u00a0 Do not blame the people around you or the environment that surrounds you for your failures. \u00a0While the people and environment around you can influence you, it is your choice whether to sin or not<\/strong>.\u00a0 As 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, \u201cNo temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.\u201d\u00a0 When we are tempted, God always provides a way out.\u00a0 The question is: will we look to God and take that way out, or will we trust in our ourselves instead?<\/p>\n

2 Samuel 11:5-13 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When David was told, “Uriah did not go home,” he asked him, “Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.<\/p>\n

On verses 5-13: \u00a0Bathsheba informs David that she is pregnant.\u00a0 To cover up his sin, David summons Bathsheba’s husband Uriah the Hittite to come home from the battlefield, hoping that he will sleep with Bathsheba and assume that the baby is Uriah’s.\u00a0 However, despite David’s efforts, over and over Uriah’s selflessness and love for king and country shine through. Uriah refuses to enjoy life with his wife while the armies of Israel are still on the battlefield.\u00a0 Compare this to David who was acting in the exact opposite way, living selfishly and sleeping with that same soldier’s wife while that soldier is risking his life to protect him.\u00a0 The irony was certainly not lost on David when Uriah spoke those words in verse 11.<\/p>\n

Through Uriah’s refusing to sleep with Bathsheba at this time, God was trying to humble David, showing David how much more noble his soldier Uriah was compared to him in this season.\u00a0 Even more, I believe God was giving David multiple chances to confess his sin to God and to Uriah.\u00a0 What can we learn from this? \u00a0God gives us chance after chance to repent.\u00a0 The question is: what will we do with those chances? \u00a0<\/strong>Will we use those chances to courageously confess our sins and repent, or will we keep trying to cover up our sin?<\/p>\n

Father, You see all things.\u00a0 Nothing is hidden from You.\u00a0 Thank You that whenever we are tempted, You always provide a way for us to stand up over that temptation.\u00a0 May we learn from David’s mistake.\u00a0 May we not fall down the slippery slope of sin by forgetting who we are, neglecting our responsibilities, isolating ourselves or acting on sinful desires.\u00a0 May we not be like David but more like Jesus the Son of David in how we fight temptation.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

opyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Samuel 11:1-13.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Samuel 11:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
\n3\u00a0\u00a0and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-4: \u00a0Notice the factors that led to David’s fall into adultery:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33778"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33781,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33778\/revisions\/33781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}