2 Samuel 11:1-5: In 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. One 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, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

God had given David a divine purpose. In fact, He has given every person a divine purpose on the earth. Some will fulfill their purpose, and some will choose to fulfill the lusts of their flesh. One spring, when the kings went out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants. Apparently David had grown weary in serving the Lord by choosing not to carry out his purpose that spring.

In 2 Samuel 12, you’ll see where God tells David that He would have given him more—as if the blessings that he had already received were not enough. Obviously, there had come a separation in the communion between David and his Lord. Let’s look at this story from a different perspective. We’re told in Galatians 6 not to grow weary in going good, for in due season, we will reap—if we don’t faint.

David had fainted in doing the will of God that year, and it cost him dearly. Perhaps the enemy had convinced David that he had reached the top, and that he had gotten all that God was willing to offer him; after all, he “was” king over Israel. Something made him decide to remain in Jerusalem instead of carrying out the Lord’s purpose for his life. Take careful notice of what can happen should we decide we’re too tired to go out into battle (to the war that is against the lusts of our flesh) and decide to give in to them. It opened the door for Satan to tempt David with adultery, and then to the murder of Uriah to cover it up.

Are you tired of doing good? Have you decided to stay at home instead of going to battle against the enemy of your soul? This one occasion in the spring of the year brought a curse upon David’s house, and it cost him the child that was conceived.

In chapter 12, God speaks through the prophet Nathan and tells the king that if what he had given him had not been enough, that He would have given him so much more. This tells us that David wasn’t looking to God to supply his desires, but to himself. He chose the lust of his fleshly heart instead of the passion of his heart for the Lord. David had allowed Satan to blind him to the blessings that God would have given him had he continued to obey. And Satan used that season to rob David of future blessings and the security of the past blessings that he had already enjoyed.

Instead of peace, the sword was now in the king’s house. You see, in the context of the passage in Galatians 6, we’re told that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption from our flesh. If Satan is lying to you about the blessings of God being dried up, and he’s telling you that there is no reason why you should continue to go to battle and contend for the faith, beware. Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that the thief only hangs out with us so that he can steal, kill, and destroy the blessings of life that God has given to us. Lust will never give you anything other than a moment’s pleasure, but it will also rob you of the blessings of peace, joy, and fulfillment. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.  —submitted by Pastor Asa Dockery, US