I'm very late in getting these last two sessions up on our blog but that in no way suggests that they weren't important to our study or to our lives.
In Session 5 Kay Arthur was our teacher and she started her time with us by asking a few very pointed questions before leading on us in our study on the life of David. She asked, "Does your spiritual walk lack a zeal? Are you weary? Is your guard down? Are you tempted to indulge the flesh? Overwhelmed? Disappointed?" She then went on to share her burden for North America. She so strongly feels that we have sunk into a pit that we've made with our own hands. The North American church is at a crossroads.
King David in 2 Samuel 11 was at a crossroads. As Kay read the story of David and Bathsheba each and every step of the way David made a decision that would ultimately snowball him into one huge regret after another. Each step took him farther and farther into sin. Kay told us that at these "crossroads, every single step there is an opportunity to stop and make a choice - do we choose sin or do we choose to go 'Deeper Still' with God?" We can choose at that crossroads to go God's way or our own.
Kay lead us to 4 passages defining what sin is. (Be sure to look these passages up for yourself!)
1. James 4:17 ~ Sin is to know the right thing and no do it.
2. 1 John 3:4 ~ Sin is lawlessness. It means that you are not going to keep the law of God.
3. 1 John 5:17 ~ All unrighteousness is sin. To not do what is right in the eyes of God is sin.
4. Romans 14:23 ~ Whatever is not of faith is sin.
I think after No. 4 we can ask ourselves, what is faith? The book of Hebrews (chapter 11 specifically) tells us that (and we'll be studying the book of Hebrews with Kay in our first 2 sessions of our Winter/Spring semester starting late January). We can also ask ourselves, what can we put in this category of "whatever is not faith"? In my small group our minds first thought of doubt and worry as fitting into this category. Can you think of any others?
Kay shared with us 5 things about sin taken from David's life in 2 Samuel 11 and 12 and 1 Chronicles 11:41.
1. Sin will take you further than you ever intended to go.
At each of David's "crossroads" of decision, he sunk further and further into a pit he made of his own hands. He should have been at war, not wandering around his roof that day. He should have turned away when he saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof, not asking for information about her. He should have run to God in his moment of temptation, not summoning Bathsheba to his palace... and bed. He should have dealt with her pregnancy honorably, not trying to trick Uriah into going home so it would seem the baby Bathsheba was carrying was her husbands. On and on poor decisions were made by David until he goes from being an adulterer to a murderer.
It's easy enough for us to get caught up in a similar trap though our descent doesn't end in murder like David's. We begin to read or watch things we shouldn't. We begin to feel things we shouldn't. Next thing you know we are so far down a path that we don't know where we are or how we got here but there usually is a path of destruction left behind us. Oh yes, sin will take us further than we ever intended to go!
2. When you sin, you are despising God (2 Sam 12:9)
When we choose to willfully despise the Word of God and God Himself we can be sure trouble is up ahead. Kay asked us a rather convicting question at this point. She asked us, "Do you have time for other things (reading novels, t.v. etc), but not time for studying the Word of God?" Ouch!
3. Sin is evil (2 Sam 12:9)
David thought that he had every base covered along the way but we can't cover our sins from God... and we certainly can't expect God to bless us in the midst of blatant, sin. David's actions were evil in the sight of God. God sees it all. Nothing is hidden from God's sight... right back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve tried to hide their sin from God... right up to today.
God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David on his sin. Nathan told the king a story about a rich man stealing a poor man's beloved sheep and then killing it. David was furious at the outcome and told Nathan that any man who could do such a thing deserves to die. Nathan revealed to David that he, the king himself, was that man. David found himself at yet another crossroads at this moment, didn't he? Does he take this revelation and humble himself, or does he deny it and sink deeper into the pit?
We are always confronted with that same dilemma when confronted with sin. What are we going to do?
4. The temptation to sin is not more than you can bear (1 Cor 10:13)
Kay defined temptation to us as trials, testing, knowing to do good and not doing it. She reminded us that God is Holy. He is faithful and promises to not tempt us beyond what we can bear. Temptation is not unique. That verse in 1 Corinthians calls it "common to man". God promises us there is a way of escape from our temptations. He will enable us to endure it ("it" being the temptation). Kay encouraged us that the way of escape is by walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), not by the flesh. The way we do that is to tap into the Word of God, clinging to His promises! Can you think of times where you saw this verse come to life in your own life?
5. Sin costs you more than you expected to pay. (Num 32:23)
David thought he had covered his sins, but that verse in Numbers tells us that "be sure your sin will find you out". The cost of his sin was the life of that baby Bathsheba conceived. It also cost him in more ways as God, through Nathan revealed the consequences of his sin, which Kay covered in Session 6.
Kay left us with a really thought provoking question. She asked, "What do we miss from God at the crossroads of life, when we walk away and start doing our own thing?" Our sin really does cost us more than we expected to pay and it is in those things that we'll never fully know or understand, those blessings from God we miss when we walk away in rebellion that are lost.
Where do we go from here? Ahh... that's the Great News of Jesus Christ. In Session 6 Kay shares with us about God's grace. He doesn't leave us in that pit of our own making. Let's see how God redeems King David so we understand more of how this "sinner" could be called "a man after God's own heart".
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