A few weeks ago, at confession, I mentioned to the priest how even after years of trying to walk the narrow path, I still struggled with impure thoughts in some cases (don’t we all?). Even though I am committed to chastity since a few years ago, and that vow hasn’t —and will not— be broken, I still believe there’s still a long way to go for me to reach the ultimate purity of thought, word, and deed, that we should all strive for.
In response, he related to me the story of King David and Bathsheba. I have highlighted some sections and phrases that I consider to be particularly important.
King David And Bathsheba — 2 Samuel 11:
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
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 Eliam and 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.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.
7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.
8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.
17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle.
19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle,
20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?
21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.
23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate.
24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
The priest, in a thick german accent, related the previous story to me briefly, and concluded with a simple lesson:
“The story of David and Bathsheba tells us something very important about the nature of men. David chose to remain in Jerusalem. He didn’t go to battle. And that’s when he sinned.
Men need to be in the frontlines. We need to be in the midst of battle. Because it’s when we are idle and bored that sin and temptation start creeping in.”
A Battle to Fight
In his bestselling book, Wild at Heart, John Eldredge (correctly) states what a man’s heart longs for:
Men want a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. That is what is written in their hearts. That is what little boys play at. That is what men's movies are about. You just see it. It is undeniable.
— John Eldredge, Wild at Heart
Masculine energy is incredibly powerful. So much so that it can either build the whole world, or bring complete destruction upon it. It all depends on how a man uses it. The great tragedy of the modern world is that we have forgotten we are supposed to struggle and fight against something, and find in this battle a worthy purpose, and our boundless energy is being used for all kinds of wrong things. This is what the priest meant when he related to me the story of David during my latest confession.
Something clicked in me when he told me that, and it makes all the sense in the world. I think I already knew it, but him putting it into words, and being able to see it so clearly in the story of King David further cemented this truth in my mind: Our masculine heart becomes restless and chaotic when we are not fighting a battle. Bear in mind, this is not merely a physical battle, but any worthy mission, with specific goals and strategies, against a specific cause or enemy. Without a mission a man is lost. And it’s when a man is lost that he is more easily tempted and led astray.
Cowardice is the Cause
Look at what 2 Samuel 11-1 reads: At the time when kings go off to war, […] David remained in Jerusalem.
David was a king. And it’s clear it was the time for him to go to battle. And yet, he choses to remain back home, in safety, while his army goes and dies for him. We don’t know why he chose to stay, but he did. In the rest of the chapter, we see how David acts in cowardly fashion, plotting to send Uriah to the frontlines hoping he would die.
Contrast this with what Uriah says when he’s told to go home: “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
That’s an honorable man, one that would lead by example. Whereas David choses to send his people out to die, Uriah cannot bring himself to enjoy any comfort while his men are camped in the open country.
The unfortunate chain of events related in the previous chapter starts with one decision: to withdraw from the fight, to fail to answer the call to battle, and to remain back home, cowardly, in safety. It is only after cowardice has taken a hold of David that sin manages to find a way in.
Refusing to answer the call, refusing to pursue your mission is the first step towards the slippery slope of idleness, purposelessness, and sin. Even the great King David, one of the most honorable, God-fearing, respected men in biblical history fell into sin and displeased the Lord. We are no different in that sense, and it will be much more difficult for us to keep sin at bay if we are not violently engaged in a mission that challenges us, tests us, and gives us a purpose under God.
You need a worthy mission. You need a battle to fight. You need to be in the frontlines.
Find this battle my friend. Find the mission that God is calling you to, and dedicate your life to it.
God bless you on your journey,
Simple Man
Thank you for reading!
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God bless you,
Simple Man
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What a great lesson. It resonates a lot with me. My struggle is making sales. And the more I avoid going out & taking action to sell, the closer I am to sin. Not lust, but another sin.