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In The Place Of Temptation

By Glenn Davis

David was a great man, a successful leader and a powerful king.  He was known as a man after God’s own heart.  Yet he put himself in the place of temptation; this mighty man fell. He fell hard. He ended up committing both adultery and murder. And these fleeting moments of stolen pleasure sent his life on a downward spiral.  Yes, God forgave him, but he lived with the consequences for the rest of his life as his own family members abused each other and rose up in rebellion against him.

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 Sam. 11:1, NIV

Why Was David In The Place Of Temptation?

In David's time, a king was expected to lead his troops into battle.  David had done so many times.  He was an exceptional general.  He also showed his humble reliance on God by asking His will many times before a battle. David was a man of courage from his youth.  Yet on this occasion, he sent his troops to war, and he stayed home in Jerusalem.  David had his reasons, I’m sure, but the bottom line is that he wasn’t where he should have been doing what he should have been doing.  If he had been, his temptation and fall would not have happened.

If we know God expects something of us, and we are not doing it, we are putting ourselves in the place of temptation.  It doesn’t matter if it is God’s general will or His specific will.  Satan is always looking for an opportunity to hurl his fiery darts at us.  We need to be careful to reduce his opportunities.

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:17 NIV

The general will of God is the things He has told us in His Word to do or not to do. The Ten Commandments are a good example of God's general will.  It applies to everyone without exception.  Not only is disobedience itself sin, but it also makes us vulnerable to other sins.  We need to be conscious of the will of God and diligent to obey it.

But we see in David’s case, it was his failure to follow the known specific will of God - leading his troops - that made him vulnerable to temptation to break the general will of God.  If we know God has specifically called us to be at a certain place or do a certain thing and we ignore the call, we are putting ourselves in great danger.

It is important to understand that David did not have his heart set on sin. He wasn’t plotting and scheming how he could sin and get away with it, as addicts do, or we do when our heart is set on something we know is wrong.  No, he was just having a restless night and got up to walk around.  Who knows, perhaps he was composing a new worship song in his mind or wrestling with a political problem.  In any case, he did not set out to sin.  His eyes just happened to stray to his neighbour’s house, where he had caught some movement.  Then he saw a beautiful woman bathing in what she thought was the privacy of her home.  

Instead of walking away and respecting her privacy, he entertained lustful thoughts. Perhaps this was made easier because he had already rejected God’s general will of one man and one woman for marriage, as he had multiple wives by this time.  

David's Descent
In The Place Of Temptation

Let us see if we can trace David’s descent into the place of temptation and learn how we can avoid making the same mistakes.

1.  He had rejected God’s general will for marriage of one man and one woman.

2.  He had failed to follow God’s specific will of leading his troops.

3.  He allowed himself idle time or boredom.

4.  When temptation struck, he indulged the thoughts instead of rejecting them.

5.  He failed to consider the possible consequences of his actions.

5.  He made plans to put his thoughts into action.

Learning Not To Put Ourselves
In The Place Of Temptation

What can we learn from his mistakes?

1.  We need to be following the general will of God to the best of our ability.  We need to study and apply the Word of God to our own lives.  If we know something displeases God, we need to avoid it. If we know something makes His heart glad, we need to do it.  This is not passive.  This is actively seeking and obeying.  When we fail, we need to come immediately to Jesus for forgiveness, then press on.

2.  If we know that God has given us something specific to do, we need to do it as soon as possible.  No delays.  No excuses.  Abraham is a good example.  When God told him to sacrifice Isaac, as heartbreaking as it was, he set out the next morning to obey.

3.  We need to be diligent stewards of our time.  This does not mean we have to fill every second with activity.  We need downtime and relaxing times, but we need to be careful.  People with too much time on their hands are usually the ones to get into trouble. This is one reason why some parents get their children involved in sports - to give them a healthy use for their “free” time.  It's not about always being busy, but about managing our time well and for the glory of God.  

4.  Each of us will be the place of temptation at times in our lives.  We need to be careful not to put ourselves there unnecessarily.  When temptation comes, we need to reject it immediately.  Indulging evil thoughts, even if we don’t think we will act on them, is sin in itself.  Sometimes we do stop there, but many times it is just the first step on a downhill path, and it gets harder and harder to stop until we hit bottom.  I want to be clear: The initial thought is not sin. It is only if we choose to entertain it that it becomes sin.

This is where desire comes in.  We will choose to do whatever we most desire at any given moment.  When we entertain sinful thoughts, we move our desires for God, family and other healthy things and begin focusing our desires on the sin.  We must stop these thoughts immediately and keep our desires pure; otherwise, we will set in motion a train that cannot easily be stopped.

5.  Often in the midst of temptation, we look only at the supposed “benefit” or pleasure.  We don’t take time to consider the consequences.  Sin always hurts God.  It may devastate our loved ones, ruin our marriage, hurt our children, cost us our jobs or whatever, depending on what it is.  Think about the serious consequences.  If you know you are vulnerable to certain temptations, consider the consequences before temptation hits, as it is harder during the temptation itself. Is a few moments of stolen pleasure worth it?

6.  Once we reach this point, except for the mercy of God, we will most likely not stop until we have given in to sin and will have to live with its consequences.

Each step should be bathed in prayer and worship.  That alone will help us keep our desires pure and our minds on God.

We have all probably had times when we were doing something innocent, and temptation seemed to strike us out of nowhere.  Although we need to be diligent not to have laid the groundwork for it, the question at the moment is, what do we do with it?  Do we indulge it or walk away?

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