Talk Tuesday- Strengthen The Gates of Your Heart, A Lesson From 2 Samuel 11: A Journey With King David, Pt. IV

King David is known for his battle with Goliath, the Psalms he penned, his humble origins, the battles he won and his fidelity to GOD. He is also infamously known for his sin with Bathsheba-the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

“2 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, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, 'She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliamand the wife of Uriah the Hittite.' 4 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. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, 'I am pregnant,'” 2 Samuel 11:2-5.

What happens next is full of intrigue, deception and scheming worthy of any modern day soap opera. David sends for Uriah the Hittite, gets him drunk, encourages him to go home and sleep with his wife in an attempt to cover up their sin. Uriah, however, is a faithful and loyal servant who refuses to lie with his wife while his comrades are on the battlefield. David then sends a note to the commander of the army, insisting that Uriah be put in the line of fire, and thus be killed in battle. Uriah dies and he marries Bathsheba. How did this happen? King David had wealth, power, wives, children, success and GOD's constant presence and blessing in his life. Weren't they enough? He is even described as, 'a man after God's own heart' (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22).

Proverbs 4:23 cautions, “23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” There is an important lesson for us here. Everyone is susceptible to sin. Therefore, we need to keep watch on the gateway of our own hearts. Jesus warns, “ 27 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” Matthew 5:27-28. Let us diligently meditate on GOD's Word so that we may strengthen the gates of our hearts. “2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will,” Romans 12:2. Join us next week, as we examine repentance and forgiveness.