My father was a deacon at the church we attended as a family. One evening he popped out to speak with a married couple where one of them had been found out to be having an affair. On his return my mum looked up from her knitting and asked “how did it go?” His reply, “too much time on their hands.”

I must admit over the years of my leading churches my observation of a lot of the messes people have got themselves into has been because they have had “too much time on their hands!”

We are now about to enter one of the most well known incidents in the life of David, and quite frankly what can I add as so much has already been written. However, what we can do is learn. This story has been in the Bible a long time and yet why don’t we learn?

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 11:1

David’s responsibility was to lead his armies into battle. David, as the king, was to set an example of leadership. His kingship was going well and he relaxed and took his eye off the ball by not going to battle. He also sent Joab into battle thereby letting someone else do what he should have been doing. All of these decisions left him vulnerable to temptation. God has given us responsibilities as Christians, when we pull back or shy away from these responsibilities then we become vulnerable to temptation.

We must remember that the devil is very capable of arranging ‘evenings’ to tempt us.

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. 2 Samuel 11:2

For us to not think the devil is clever is rather foolish. We know from Job chapter 1 he is capable of causing raids on farms, lightening to fall and houses to collapse. He can manipulate events, no wonder Paul says take care! David is being lazy, he is not with his armies, he has been ‘slobbing’ around on a couch. He is doing nothing but wandering around on the roof of his palace, idling away his time.

He casts his eyes upon a woman, probably naked, she is very beautiful.

The king is now at a point where a choice has to be made, do I walk away or stay here? Do I switch this off, stop this, walk away or linger? Too many choose, like David, to linger in the wrong place with no idea that they are being manipulated.

What we never get is that temptation produces spiritual blindness. David forgot his responsibilities and what was right and rationalises his sin. So many times over the years I have sat with people who rationalise their sin. His hormones were working overtime, his reasoning gone, but it sounded right to him.

And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 2 Samuel 11:3-4

David had an opportunity to walk away but instead he went in deeper, further, the fact that she was another’s wife was irrelevant, he wanted her and that was what he was going to do. He abused his power as king. He knew what the law said. He knew where he should have been yet he would pursue this with his so called flawed logic. Everything seems to be thrown away, but before we cast the first stone, we have to see ourselves in David, we have to see what temptation is and its consequences.

It could have been avoided if David had been aware of his responsibilities and the ferocity and subtlety of temptation and his own vulnerability.

Jesus said “watch and pray so that you do not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). Certain situations can lead us closer to sin and then that situation may lead to another sin and another. Certainly, if you are lazy, or lonely, or tired, or frustrated, or inactive, or stubborn, or unwilling, for example then the devil will look to fill that void.

If you are committed to serving God and being all that God would want you to be then you are going to actively and sometimes drastically “watch.” The devil knows your weaknesses and he will use them and abuse them because his purpose is to destroy. Watch means watch out for, see things coming. You see, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time then one glimpse of your Bathsheba from your palace roof and you are going to find yourself in a mess.

Joseph once found himself in a sticky situation (Genesis 39). What tipped him in the right direction was that he was so passionately committed to serving God that he was going to keep temptation as far away from him as he could, so he fled. For some, that thing that tempts you is just too close. Sometimes the direct approach is the best one, flee!

Someone once said the best approach to the sins that find out our weaknesses is to stand a long way back from them.

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:9-15