Entertaining God's Opponent

In 2 Samuel 11 of the Bible, a story is told about King David. One evening, while his men were at war, David went to the roof of his palace and decided to have a look around. While surveying the area, he saw a woman bathing. David wanted her, so he sent someone to find out who she was. His messenger returned to him, informing David that her name was Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers. In his greed, David sent for Bathsheba and slept with her. She then ended up pregnant. Trying to cover his tracks, David sent for Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to get him to sleep with his wife. However, David’s plan didn’t work, as Uriah refused to leave his fellow soldiers. David then decided to go one step further and give Uriah a note for one of the head general’s. That note gave the order for Uriah to be put on the front line and killed, which is exactly what happened. Now that Uriah was no longer in the picture, David was able to move Bathsheba into the palace to be with him. “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:26).

My message to you this morning is “Entertaining God’s Opponent (EGO)”

David’s first wrong was having an affair. Not wanting to own up to that, he then committed another sin, murder. David saw Bathsheba and wanted her. Even after finding out she was married, he allowed his ego to control and lead him into taking someone who wasn’t his and having an innocent person die. In other words, David entertained God’s opponent, Satan, by allowing him to infiltrate his thoughts will covetousness, lust and deceit.

When we allow our egos to get the best of us, we are giving Satan the upper hand. He is getting the opportunity to use us and create problems in our families, hatred among friends and dismay in workplaces. The ego destroys, because it focuses on self and eliminates the feeling of others. David thought about his carnal needs and disregarded the feelings of Bathsheba and Uriah. He then tried to cover it up, by getting Uriah to sleep with his wife. When that didn’t work, he settled with having Uriah killed, rather than face up to his wrongdoing.

Let us not allow self to stand in the way of our relationships. When we remove personal agendas from the table, all who sit will have their needs fulfilled. All David wanted, was to have sex. In the end he ended up with blood on his hands, a wife and someone calling him daddy… Remember that, the next time you want to push an idea through that focuses on yourself.