I think it is safe to say that the majority of us have been raised decently, know what is good and bad, know the basics of scripture, and in general have a good understanding of what we ought to be doing and how we should be living. But, why is it that sometimes (or many times) we do things we know are wrong? I am not sure to what extent this is a psychological or spiritual question, but regardless, it is present in all of us, and we need to shed some light on it and perhaps minimize this phenomenon. I have recently been reading Chronicles and love the story of King David. His life is very well recorded, and he had the ability to analyze his successes and failures. David is one of my favorite O.T. characters, but in this article I want to dissect some of his "failures." David was well versed in the law and knew God's heart (a man after God's own heart) but still had moments where he did things that he knew were wrong. I want to examine three of his wrongdoings in this post: the Ark transportation, the census, and the Bathsheba incident.
The Ark
David had a great idea to move the Ark to Jerusalem, and everyone agreed with him. The problem arose when one of David's men was struck down by God for touching the ark. David was discouraged and didn't bring the Ark to Jerusalem that time. On his second attempt, he decided to do things the right way. Instead of calling the leaders of his army for counsel, scripture says that he called the priests, for only they should handle the Ark. David knew this all along. We do this many times as well. We know how something ought to be done, but occasionally we think the "rules" don't apply to us for some reason. Earlier in his life, David had an instance where he and his men entered the temple and ate breads that were a sacrifice and, by law, were only supposed to be consumed by the priests. Those were exigent circumstances because the men were starving, and God did not judge him for it. In the case of the Ark, there were no exigent circumstances, and God never changed the protocol. There was no excuse for David to take the priestly duties upon himself and his soldiers. Perhaps you had an excuse for something you did at one point, but remember that it does not give you the right to break the rules again and again.
The Census
At one point during David's reign, David decided to count all of Israel. I still don't fully understand why this was as big of a deal as it turned out to be, but his advisors warned him it was not a good idea; God would not be pleased. At this point David had won so many battles, he accomplished so much more than Saul, and perhaps he thought he could afford this one little thing. The thought process could go something like this: God won't mind. I've done so much good, it outweighs the little "bad" I might do. We are very capable of this excuse, but we need to understand that God does not condone this logic. No amount of "good" we do will ever be sufficient to cover the "mildest" of sins. God expects us to love His ordinances, not find a way or reasoning to excuse ourselves from them.
Bathsheba
Perhaps the most known of David's mistakes was when he took another man's wife and then killed that man in an attempt to hide his sin. It's hard to rationalize this in any way, but the scripture does give a bit more context on this episode. David was home while everyone was at war. He was comfortable, safe, and wealthy. The problem is that those things can make you vulnerable spiritually. David made the first mistake by taking Bathsheba, but then it snowballed. This happens with us just as well. Recently, I had a conversation with a young man about dating for a prolonged period of time. The first danger I warned against is getting comfortable with each other (too comfortable), and things that you would have otherwise never done now become a norm. The second danger is that when we get comfortable and are okay with one sin, a chain reaction occurs where one thing leads to another and then another. Never allow yourself to become comfortable enough to undermine the severity of sin.
This is not a 21st century problem. Paul even wrote in Romans 7:15 "For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do. The sinful nature and flesh has it's own desires, but it is our duty to resist the desires of the flesh. Paul later says in 8:13 "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." When we act according to the flesh, our first response is to rationalize it, validate it, and subdue our conscience. Given what we examined from David's life, every mistake mentioned had a consequence. In the first case it was one man's life, in the second it was three days of destruction from God, and in the third it cost him his own son. Whether it be secular laws or Biblical teachings, don't ever think you will be the exception to the rule. Actions have consequences.
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