Omitted / Committed


Prayer: Dear Jesus, please join me in this time of prayer, Bible study, and meditation. Enliven my faith that this time might be filled with insight, inspiration, and devotion. In Your name I pray. Amen.

Read: 2 Samuel 11:1-17
http://www.esvbible.org/2 Samuel 11:1-17

Think about It: There are sins of omission, where we don’t do that which is commanded and sins of commission, where we do the things that are prohibited. There are sins of weakness, committed because our frail humanity is bound so  deeply to sin, and sins of the will where we purposefully march in the direction of evil without a concern for the negative consequences. This last category is the most dangerous as we intentionally sin  without regard for the will and way of God. In  today’s reading, David is intentionally walking away from the God he loves.

The verse that reveals David’s heart is verse 2. “. . . late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch . . .” While his army is out on the battlefield David has been taking a nap. He is lounging about, wondering what to do with his day. So he wanders out to his roof and what should appear on a nearby rooftop below him but a beautiful woman. Did he know she would be there? The text doesn’t really say, but many believe that he did. Did he know who she was? As she is the wife of a leader in his army, it is very likely. When we set our feet onto the path of intentional sin, there is nowhere to go but down.

The other character in this drama is of course Bathsheba. We certainly cannot hold up her innocence. She could have at any time said “no”. So they walked together into this circumstance with eyes wide open. David begins his stroll into this sinful situation when he stays home rather than going with his army into battle. Had he never sent for Bathsheba in the first place, none of the following events would have taken place. But all of this unfolds inside the heart of a man who with intent walks into sin.

While we gaze in horror at David’s choices we have to realize that his story is our story. Have we never intentionally done something we knew was wrong? Of course we have – every single one of us. But fortunately for us, Jesus died for all of our sins, not just the ones committed by mistake or out of weakness. He also died for those hideous events that we created with our own imagination and will. His blood covers even the worst thing we can come up with and   forgives all of our sins, intended or not. But we must be so very cautious,    because those intentional sins are fraught with danger, for they lead us away from God very quickly. Those sins comes from the hardness of our human hearts and it is in these areas of our lives where we must pray the Words that God gave to Ezekiel in chapter 36:
     25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, please deal with the hard places in my heart where I am unwilling to yield to Your will and Your way. Pour out Your Spirit upon me that I might flee from those sins that entice me away from You. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

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