24–30 September 2017.

2 Samuel 12–13 (click to read).

Most of us don’t wake up in the morning planning to commit terrible sins, or to injure and hurt others. So why do we commit such serious sins? Often these big sins happen because we first opened the door to little sins. We allow a first little sin into our lives and we tell ourselves that it isn’t so bad. But then we repeat those sins, get used to them, and accept them as a normal part of our behaviour. It’s then easy to take the next little step, and the step after that to even larger sins. Then without noticing it, we find we have taken lots of little steps towards finally committing terrible evil.

We see this in King David’s life. We know that in relationships, people often have a “type” of person that they prefer. But in David’s case, we quickly get the feeling that the type of woman David liked were other men’s wives. Back in 1 Samuel 25 we watch this doorway to sin crack open as David plans to take Abigail (the wife of Nabal) to be his own. Then, Jewish scholars tell us, there are some questions surrounding the marriage status of Ahinoam, the next wife David takes. Then in 2 Samuel 3, things get even worse. We watch the heartbreaking scene as Paltiel weeps and cries in the street as his beloved wife Michal is taken away to be given to David. Then when David becomes king over all Israel, things go a step further. David takes King Saul’s harem, all Saul’s wives and concubines as his own (2 Samuel 12:8). Step by step, little by little, David opens the door wider to his sinful desires. No wonder then that it’s so easy for him to take the next step: to take the next married woman, Bathsheba, and murder her husband Uriah.

In 2 Samuel 12, the prophet Nathan condemns David for his sins, and pronounces God’s many punishments on him, one of which (in v. 11) is that other men will now sleep with David’s wives, the way David did with theirs. But we have to remember that David’s great sin didn’t just come out of nowhere. David practiced this sin, and all through his life he slowly let it grow.

That’s why we need to be so careful about opening the door to sin, even a little bit. Because little by little, that little sin will push its way in. Then before we know it, it will leave our life a disaster.

Pastor Stephen Lakkis