Looking Inward

 DEVOTION

2^ND SAMUEL

LOOKING INWARD

2 Sam 11:18-27

18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king's anger may flare up, and he may ask you, 'Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, 'Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'" 22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king's men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead." 25 David told the messenger, "Say this to Joab: 'Don't let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.' Say this to encourage Joab." 26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

NIV

There had been nothing negative about David throughout the previous portion of scripture; in fact, he was a great man of God whom God even testified that he found a man after his own heart, and he would do what the Lord wanted. But now, this awful act of unrighteousness, first, taking Bathsheba, second, having Uriah put in the front of the battle to ensure he would be killed. The whole idea is that what David did displeased the LORD. Although David committed this awful act, is any sin greater than any other sin? Doesn’t all sin displease the Lord? Of course, we now live under that new covenant and have the Lord Jesus, who took our sins upon himself on that cross, and we have been forgiven and live in the grace of God. Still, we sin; we cannot live a perfect life, like Jesus did, so we fall and we sin. Maybe our sins are so little compared to what David did, and we want to judge him or think poorly of him, yet that kind of thinking leads to being judgmental, which displeases the Lord. It’s that log and speck truth that we have to keep in mind. If we are going to be critical of any sin, we need to look within. Sure, we have not killed anyone, done any other major crimes against another person, yet being prideful, boastful, self-edifying, gossiping, or this almost self-righteousness that the Pharisees had are still acts or attitudes that are displeasing to the Lord. We know that whole list of attitudes and behaviors we are to rid ourselves of, and we wonder how well we are or have accomplished that list. It always comes down to looking inward and asking the Lord to show us if we are failing in some area, to examine our hearts to see if there are any anxious thoughts, and to see if there are any offensive ways in us. Let us not be hasty in finding faults in others, as it could become a habit without our awareness. Let us not be too quick to think more highly of ourselves, for that too may become a pattern of life. If we ask the Lord to show us the way everlasting, to be active in our lives, transforming us into the likeness of Jesus, he will do the work within us. When we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior and want to follow Him, and when the Holy Spirit comes within us to lead, guide, correct, rebuke, teach, and train us in righteousness, we are in a state of transformation, and that should reflect in our lives. That is, we should be reflecting the glory of the Lord in ever-increasing glory. Show us the way, Lord, examine our hearts, then we would not be looking at others, like judging David, but looking inward, judging self.