Friday 9 May 2008

Friday Reading: 2 Samuel 11:1-5

Key Verse: 2 Samuel 11:2
2  And it happened one evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

Devotion:
So many times we fall into temptation. If we look back at every time we should be able to identify a few steps that allowed us to trip up. Temptation is not something that just happens but rather something that we allow into our lives through our weaknesses. No matter how hard we do try to avoid temptations, they will continue to be there and continue to trip us up… So how can we go about avoiding them?

Let’s look at David’s example of adultery here; whilst we cannot know for sure, we can raise a few questions. First we see that David is staying in Jerusalem. Was it that he should have been about his normal business which would have taken him away? What was he doing only getting up out of his bed in the evening? Our love for everything easy in our lives will allow us to loose focus on life. Many of us will also admit to a wandering eye; having a look where we should not be looking. And lastly was he abusing his position of power or what!

If we are going to be honest about the sins in our own lives, we will be able to show up a few points of our own too. We will be able to identify where we are firstly not walking by Christ’s side. He is not the one that wanders off away from us, but us from Him. It is not always easy to continue to do God’s will and far too often we choose the easy way out rather than digging in and doing what is necessary. We have His Word. We have the bible. Should we not be reading it and keeping close to His commandments? We know that we are weak. We know that we give in. Why then should we think we can get away with taking the easy way out? Are we not told that the easy way out is laid before us by the evil one? Why then do we make bad choices?

… Because it is easy to do so…

Points to Ponder:
How often do you give in to things?
 
How often do you search for strength in God’s Word?