THE SIN OF BEING AT THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME

Part 3

Pastor Maselo Mosomane

“Will a man rob God?” May we take this well-know scripture from Malachi 3:8 and further say; “will a man keep secrets from God? Can a man hide anything from God?” God says in His word that we should not keep secrets from Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9. God knows everything. He knows that we are not perfect and will from time to time err. That’s why He slotted this verse towards the end of the bible for our convenience.

Uriah is dead. The King kept quiet about the cause of his death. When Bethsheba, Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead. She mourned his death. As soon as her mourning period was over, David sent for her. She was brought to the King’s house, and became his wife. At the time of nature she bore him a son. But this thing displeased the Lord. 

“But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, ‘there were two men in the same city – one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him. One day a traveller dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest” 2 Samuel 12:1-4 The Message.

What is it that really displeased God? One; David committed adultery with someone else’s wife. Two; He arranged for the woman’s husband’s (Uriah) death. Three; He did not repent of his sins. He kept it secret. How did all these happen? It happened when David found himself at a wrong place at the wrong time. He was not supposed to be at home when the armies of the Lord were out fighting in a battle. When he did not know what to do, he idled aimlessly. According to the Scripture, who was known to be good at idling aimlessly? Job 1:7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it" NASB. Satan answered the Lord and said; I have been roaming about on the earth. GWT puts it this way, “...from wandering all over the earth.” David picked up this habit and he roamed about; he wandered aimlessly on the rooftop. How? The devil led him to the rooftop and he yielded. David was in his house, probably with one of his wives. The devil suggested that he goes outside and David yielded. From that advantage point he saw an unsuspecting woman taking a bath. That’s where it all started.

Sin leads from one simple innocent act to real sin in its gross state. James analyses it into three deadly steps in James 1:15; Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” James says, one; it all starts with a desire –an evil desire; a thought. Two, when the thought is not dealt with, it suggests action. You act on that evil thought. You act on that evil desire. And three, when this thought or desire is acted upon, the action produces death. David fulfilled all these deadly steps.

How? An innocent thought led him to the rooftop. A desire for sex was triggered when he saw a naked woman. He acted on it and ended up sleeping with another man’s wife. When the woman reported that she has conceived, he went further to arrange for her husband's death. This is how the devil operates; first desire, then sin and finally, death. Desire conceives sin; sin grows and mature. Matured sin brings forth death.

When the circle was completed, David tried to sweep it under the carpet and keep quiet about it. True; David’s sin was kept secret from people. Joab, the commander of the army knew only part thereof. But the motive for Uriah’s death was David’s heart secret. Even Bathsheba did not know.

Jeremiah, the prophet later said; “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9-10. The prophet says who can know the heart? People knew David; his wives knew him too. But no one knew what was going on in David’s heart. Indeed the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Out of desperation, David planned a deceitful wickedness.

But there is someone whose eyes cannot be obscured from anyone’s heart. “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind” verse ten. You can trick people but you can’t trick God. It doesn’t matter how crafty you are; God sees it all. You can hide from people but you can’t hide from God. There are times when, instead of confessing our sins we hide them. David did the same. He kept his secret and still walked around in his royal gown and crown as if nothing has happened; worse still he sealed his secret by marrying Uriah’s wife. David did his best to cover the tracks and kept this malice in his heart. But God saw it all – yes, God knew it all. Can a man hide from God? David tried. “...for My eyes are on all their (the wicked) ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes ...and there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him whom we must give account. Jeremiah 16:17; Hebrews 4:13

God dispatched Nathan the prophet to confront David in his craftiness. We read about the prophet, Nathan’s visit to David in our opening scripture. Here in 2Samuel 12:1-4 the discourse is recorded. “Nathan said to him, ‘there were two men in the same city – one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him. One day a traveller dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest.”

Unaware, David jumped the gun and passed judgement. “So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity”

“You are the man;” Nathan said. “You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun” 2Samuel 12:9-12

Friend, how long will you keep your secrets from the Lord? How long do you think your tracks will remain covered? God knows it all. I would advice that you come out of your closet and confess your sins to Him. Not that when He is quiet about it He doesn't know anything about it – He knows it all.

It all started when you left your estate and wandered away from where you were supposed to be. The devil took advantage and you yielded. When sin became full-grown you became a murderer.

I suggest you stop right where you are and turn to God and confess your sins to Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

ARE YOU WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE?