Overlooking A Sin Allows It To Grow

[red]

i have read daily bread. in fact, i read it every morning after waking up. i would like sir ed to enlighten me and for the rest about this verse 2 Samuel 12: 1-15. thank you sir ed.

[Edwin]

Before David, Saul was chosen as king over Israel. He stood head and shoulders above all the other people. He was tall and good looking/handsome. He was also very humble. When they brought him to make him king he was actually hiding in the granery. But, he allowed pride to come in his heart, and he started a life of rebellion against God's ways of doing things, so God rejected him from being king after he did too many things his own way, and against what God wanted.

God chose David to take his place. While Saul was the most likely, David was the least likely. Samuel in annointing a new king over Israel thought God was going to chose each of David's brother, but God said for each one of them that, that person was not his choice. Samuel worked through all the likely candidates, the good looking/handsome ones. The strong men, but God's choice was a boy keeping the sheep in the pasture. David did really well for a while, and he had a wonderful attitude towards God and his things. He had a heart for God, and he was a man after God's own heart. David loved what God loved, and he hated what God hated. Saul purposed to give his daughter, Merab to David for his wife as a snare. He was going to offer her to David in exchange for killing Philistines, and he was sure that in the process David would be killed. Then she was given to another man, so Michal, Saul's other daughter, loved David, and Saul made a bargain with David that if he would bring evidence that he had killed a hundred Philistines then he could have Michal for his wife. Everyone was happy, but the Lord was with David, he killed the one hundred Philistines, took Michal for his wife, and Saul was angry with him, and he was afraid of him also because David was a good man, and God was with him.

[Edwin]

One day David was on the balcony of his house, and he saw a woman without any clothes on taking a bath in the stream! What would you do if you were a male and saw a naked young lady taking a bath from the balcony of your home? God sometimes expects us to do what might be against our nature. David had sexual desires just like most of us do, and that drove him to do something that he should not have done. The Bible tells us that he got up out of bed, went to the roof top of his house, and saw the young lady taking a bath. David was sexually aroused at seeing this, and his desires got the best of him. The lady's name was Bathsheba. David sent messengers to bring the woman to him, and he had sex with her. It must have been delightful, enjoyable, and satisfying, but it was wrong, and David paid a terrible price not only for that act, but for what he did after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Bathsheba sent word to David that he had gotten her pregnant! What was David to do? While Bathsheba's husband was off to war fighting, David had gotten Uriah's wife Bathsheba pregnant! Then David did the unthinkable! David sent for Joab the army leader to bring Uriah to him. David asked him about how the war was going, and had nicety conversations with Uriah. David tried to send Uriah home to sleep with his wife, so that the pregnancy could appear to belong to Uriah. But Uriah and his men refused to go home, and he was not going to have sex with his wife while his fellow soldiers were enduring hardships in battle on the field, and sleeping in tents away from their wives. So Uriah and his men camped on David's door step.

You can see what sin does. First it was adultery, then next was deception, and an attempt to make Uriah think he had gotten his wife pregnant. After that David resorted to getting Uriah drunk, thinking then surely he would go home and have sex with his wife, thinking that he had gotten her pregnant! Then the unthinkable happened!

[Edwin]

David then called Joab the military leader, and requested/commanded that Joab would take Uriah and put him in a place in the battle where he was sure to be killed. Well, that happened! Uriah was sent into the hottest place in the battle, and yes he was killed. The messengers brought word to David that Uriah had been killed in the battle, and David was callused to the wrong that he had done. His response was that everyone is dying one place or another, and Uriah just happened to be where fate caused his death. David basically lied to the messengers, saying that it was a coincident that Uriah died, when in actuallity David had murdered him! Bathsheba mourned for her husband for a period of time, after which David sent for her, taking her to become his wife. Then Bathsheba and David had their love child, but God was not pleased!

That is the background to the verses that Red pointed out to us. God was not pleased on a number of issues. There was the lust, there was the deception, there were manipulations to make it appear that Uriah was the father, and then there was murder! Then David hid his sin, telling people that it was coincidental that Uriah died. So God sent Nathan the prophet with a parable of a rich man with many sheep, a poor man with one sheep, and the rich man taking the poor man's only sheep to make a feast. The story made David very angry, and then Nathan told David that David was the rich man with many sheep who took the poor man's sheep to make the feast. David didn't need Bathsheba, as he had enough wives. Bathsheba was Uriah's only wife! David comdemned himself to death because of his actions.

But David's life was spared because of his repentance before God. There is a popular concept out that when God forgives a person of sin, he also removes all the consequences, and that is not always true. Maybe it is never true. People who commit sin have a price to pay. David's price was that their love child was doomed to die. Nathan also sent word from God that the sword would never depart from David's household. After that his children began to commit atrocities, and they killed each other. Nathan also said that David's house would be divided against each other. A son tried to take the kingdom away from his father David, and the army general killed him. What seemed like some innocent fun for David in the beginning, was the committing of adultery, and it was sin which led to other sins, and there was a terrible price to pay. There is always a terrible price to pay for committing sin. The Bible says that the soul that sinneth shall surely die. Jesus has taken our sin and paid the price for us, and God forgives us for His Son Jesus Christ's sake, but it is always better not to commit sin. We can have forgiveness of sin, and eternal life as we confess our sins, and ask for forgiveness. It is always best to trust the Lord to keep us from commiting sin. But if we sin, we can have forgiveness by confessing and repenting.

[Edwin]

Red, your subject of your posting is thought provoking. It is true that overlooking a sin allows it to grow. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, and if we are sensitive to God's moving in our hearts we will agree with Him, deal with our sin, and allow God to remove it so that we are safe. If we confess our sin, is what the Bible says. We must acknowledge that we are sinners before God, and that we need Him to help us. That is our only remedy. If we overlook or hide our sin, it will grow. The person who steals candy bars eventually becomes a bank robber, and that is the way it goes. The little sins become big sins eventually that will destroy us. A preacher that I once heard preach when I was little was telling about a black woman talking about dealing with sin. She said that you don't just destroy the spider web, but you kill the spider, meaning that we can clean out the effects of sin, but if we don't get to the root of the problem we still have the problem and it will only get bigger until it will destroy us. So it does not make sense to overlook sin, or hide it, but it must be dealt with. We must confess our sins before God, ask for His forgiveness, and repent of our sins, and then with God's help live a new and different life.

[Edwin]

I do have a story that illustrates this that Red brought out. Where we lived for 10 years was a remote island like place where you could only gain access with an airplane or a boat. Cars were barged up to this place, and there were maybe 10 miles of roads there, so we all had vehicles which we drove wherever we needed to go. There were many bicycles and motorcycles there as well, and many people walked instead of using other transportation. It was a wonderful paradise to live in, and it was like being in heaven every day. Carol and I loved it, and things changed so that we needed to leave, but we miss it yet, and we return as often as we are able to.

We must be on guard with our thought life and our actions continually, and seek God for His wisdom, help and guidance, or we will get trapped in a problem.

We got an internet dish from a guy and his father who had an electronic shop business in a town not far away from this place. He and his father were well respected, were well off, and very business like. Later they got involved in trying to bring telephones into this valley as part of a government mandate involving the emergency call 911. According to the law everyone is supposed to have the capability to call 911, but if there are no telephones, it is somewhat difficult to call 911 in case of an emergency. People in the valley and the National Park Service were madder than you can imagine because they did not want telephones in the valley. Many of the residents resented having telephones come into the valley also, but it was a government mandate, and telephones were coming in. People in the valley hated each other over it. If you wanted the telephones the people who didn't want the telephones hated you. Well, to my knowledge telephones have never come into the valley 10 years after this mandate.

[Edwin]

We had very close friends who had a lot of money, and the man was computer/electronically a wizard/very intelligent. He and his wife went to work for this father and son bringing telephones into the valley. They not only worked for the father and son, but they invested a lot of money into it as well. The son evidently had problems with his thought life, which resulted in an action that cost he and his father dearly. In this nearby town, the son had his friend and his friend's family over for a party, I think it was a birthday party. The son was in the kitchen with his friend's daughter. The daughter was heavily endowed on top, and she was scantily dressed. While in the kitchen working with the punch and the cake he was overcome, and he reached over, pulled his friend's daughter's breasts out of her clothing and began to fondle them. Evidently that gave him great pleasure, but it cost him dearly. First off, he spent the night in jail over that incident. Then his business suffered. He started losing his patrons. Then his business of bringing telephones into the valley was in jeapardy. Our good friends quit him over the incident. They demanded their money be returned that they had invested, but the father told them they would not get their money back because he would lose his house if that happened. The son lost respect of everyone in the valley. He still came up to do business, but no one would talk with him. Carol didn't want to talk with him at first, and then she said, "well, he is poor lost sinner," and she started being friendly and talking with him again. I continued to befriend the guy, but many people in the valley said, "He is a scuzzy guy." Some of them said, "He makes me sick." Others said they didn't even want to be around him. He went from being very successful to losing respect of most everyone, and it was sad. We haven't seen him for years now, but I hope he has over come that, and that he is doing well. People think that they are immune to those kinds of things happening to them. I have discussed this with Carol, and she says that she thinks that they become overcome and they do these things without thinking of the consequences. They are driven by lust, and it happens before they know what they have done. Well, I hope the guy is doing better by now, and that he has learned his lesson!

[red]

Thank you for enlightenment sir. I had to continue reading 2 Samuel through out chapter 3 or so. I wish all men be like Joseph. Joseph trusted the Lord to get away from sin. The Lord was with Joseph. His masters wife tempted joseph but he was able to resist from it. Despite trials joseph was blessed because of his strong conviction of faith, trust to the Lord. Very impressive Joseph is my idol. I adore his ways and commitment to the Lord.
Sir Ed, what if you forgot to ask forgiveness of certain sin. It cant be avoided that you will forget something. Is it acceptable just say please forgive all my sin esp those that i cant remember anymore lol.

[Edwin]

If you don't remember your sin, or are unaware that you have sinned, I think you just ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins, and I think it is covered. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sins we commit, and then we must be quick to ask for God's forgiveness and find repentence in Him, and then turn for our sinful ways and sinful living. Turning from the sinful living is important for us, and God requires that of us. We can't go on commiting sins that we are aware of and get by with it. But, God does forgive, He pardons, and He forgets our sins, and holds them no longer against us.

[red]

Thank you again sir. I am glad i can ask here anything for clarifications. By the way, it would be a pleasure if you have time to preach in our church someday. Will sponsor your plane fare local though ha ha...Godwilling pohon.
Anyway, i am very curious and everyday conscious of actions regarding this judging others. In Luke 6: 37-42. it talks about judging others or finding faults to fellowmen. Is it a sin? How about courts of law , the judges judging a person who committed a felony. A person who commits felony deserves punishment.
Oftentimes people do it without thinking that it is not good judging others. The saying : For the yardstick you lay on another may someday be used as a measuee for you. Very striking. Also : if you are looking for faults to correct try looking in a mirror. It is not bad to correct so long as you have good intention to help a person redirect his or her path. Isnt it?