Get Off The Ladder - The Adultery

2 Samuel 11:1-5 NIV 

[1] 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] One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, [3] and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” [4] Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. [5] The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2sa.11.1-5.NIV)

Now we face one of the most telling set of verses in our modern age. 

There is no greater, more powerful example of covetousness and it’s evils than adultery and the industry that goes with it. 

Before I go on, and we make excuses to say that we would never, ever do something so evil, let me quote from the words of Jesus Christ: 

Matthew 5:27-28 NIV 

[27]  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ [28] But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.27-28.NIV)

There is no human being alive who has reached or passed puberty that has not broken this command. We are all guilty. We have nothing to feel self-righteous about.  

Let me get that straight from the very start. 

What we are looking at here is what gets us entrapped in it. The expressions of this sin are almost irrelevant.  

In Bible times, the main hubs of this sin were pagan temples. In other locations, it was largely individuals, or at most, hotels along trade routes. 

Nowadays, there is a huge, international industry around soliciting lust and covetousness from men (mostly, although also women) and monetising it for personal gain, without any regard as to the effect on the people involved or society at large. 

The effects of this are too awful and too lurid to be described in this blog. 

But the existence of this evil trade in human flesh and hopes and dreams is not the issue. The ubiquitousness and ease of access to the filth they produce is not the issue. The way our media is being manipulated to provide them a platform for their sordid trade is not the issue. 

The issue is how we avoid it. 

What happened here was catastrophic, for the kingdom of Israel, for David’s own family and for David himself. The repercussions of what seemed like a small slip lasted for years and damaged his legacy in ways that he could not have understood. 

Yet it was entirely, and quite easily avoided. 

Within these verses, we see three simple pieces of advice that will help us avoid similar moral clashes and keep us safe from all forms of covetousness expressed through lust. 

The first piece of advice is this: Don’t Be Where You Shouldn’t Be. 

Don’t Be Where You Shouldn’t Be 

2 Samuel 11:1 NIV 

[1] 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. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2sa.11.1.NIV)

Once when I was a teenager with a head full of daftness and bereft of common sense, I was walking back from a Christian event through Glasgow city centre with the then boyfriend of one of my sisters. Our route took us a few blocks from the known historic red light district of the city. We were almost men. We were discovering the existence of hormones. We decided that we would take a peek. And so, despite the need to catch the last train home, we diverted from our route and let our curiosity get the better of us. 

The place was deserted. There weren’t even a lot of cars passing through. But there, at the apex of the corner of one of the streets, a women stood, maybe ten years older than us, overdressed for where she stood but underdressed the weather conditions, looking shifty and uncomfortable as she waited for someone. 

Both of us knew what this meant. 

We ran back to the main thoroughfare in an immature fit of giggles.  

We had seen what we had set out to see. 

I relate that story to my shame. Contrary to its perception in movies and TV shows, there is nothing at all funny or amusing or entertaining about adultery in any of its forms. It is always sad. It is always tragic. It is always destructive. It is never fun. The fact that women in particular (although some men too) find themselves locked into maintaining a wicked fantasy to attract others into such relationships, whether online or in person, is nothing short of a disaster. These people are not just selling themselves, they are selling their souls and their future. The cold, hard fact is that no matter what they go on to do with their lives after they stop selling their souls for profit, everyone will remember what they used to do.  

Getting involved in that heinous, poisonous trade for financial gain is something from which they will never really escape. 

And I am fully aware of how easy it is to stumble across it. That red light district I visited (I don’t believe it still is) was just a couple of blocks from one of the main shopping district of the city, a short walk from many renowned bars and restaurants, and with large offices of international businesses in the vicinity.  

Although that could also be why it was there. 

I have been to cities (one in particular) where you could be taking photos at a major attraction and have to be careful where you pointed your camera, because if you faced it in the wrong direction, you could be taking photos of women selling themselves in shop windows like cheap suits.  

One of my brothers-in-law studied at a campus where, just one street away, women could be ‘had’ for the night for the price of a cup of coffee. 

That ought to turn our stomach. 

But the reality is that the temptation to commit adultery is literally everywhere. Modern morality is no respecter of marital integrity or fidelity. Even in place you would not expect them, you find people who view others as a commodity to be ‘had’, a good to be possessed, a notch to add to their bedpost, a rung to climb on the ladder of souls, and they not care who or what they break in the process. 

Reading these verses, perhaps you think I am turning my ire against Bathsheba. After all, David at the time was Israel’s most respected and beloved king. God even said this about him, to no less than Saul: 

1 Samuel 13:14 NIV 

[14] But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1sa.13.14.NIV)

Acts 13:22 NIV 

[22] After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.13.22.NIV)

But – and I absolutely cannot say this strongly enough – what David did here was not after God’s heart. It was the epitome of selfishness. It was pure, unadulterated abuse of power. It was one hundred percent wrong. There was nothing at all right about. 

Condemning David is way too easy, though, because the three small mistakes he made to commit this shocking sin, and the even more shocking sins that followed, are often mistakes that we make.  

The first of these, as we have seen, was that he was in the wrong place. This place was wrong for three reasons: 

Temporally. The chapter begins with these words: 

2 Samuel 11:1 NIV 

[1] In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war... 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2sa.11.1.NIV)

Do you see it? This was the wrong time for David to be in Jerusalem. He should have been off fighting with Joab, his nephew and commander-in-chief. The fact he was in Jerusalem wasn’t wrong in and of itself, it was the timing that made it wrong. 

Physically. As we saw, David was in Jerusalem at the wrong time and this made it the wrong place. He should have been up north, fighting the Ammonites at Rabah. It was a serious dereliction of duty as king for him to be in Jerusalem. 

Spiritually. Everything that follows this is catastrophic. It shows that someone David is not where he should be with God: something is deeply wrong with his heart. All sin is the result of not loving God, our neighbours or ourselves as we should. There is little doubt that somehow David has fallen short here. 

By not doing what he should have been doing, David put himself in a place where he, even he, Israel’s songwriter and warrior king, a man after God’s own heart, was vulnerable to temptation. 

We have a lot to learn from this. Are there places where we find ourselves spiritually weak and likely to succumb to the wiles of the world or the devil? Are there situations where the pull of our fleshly human nature is too strong? 

It’s too easy to list places and establishments that we cannot frequent because just being there presents a risk. And that is fine. If these places are a source of temptation to us then we should not be there. No-one can question or argue with that logic. 

But over the years the church has placed far too much emphasis on these places and, with Phariseeical glee, has completely forgotten the less visible places where temptation strikes.

For example: when we are hungry or thirsty or tired; when marital or other family relationships are strained; when we are left on our own and to our own devices; when we have nothing to occupy our time and no purpose or direction; when we are impatient and don’t believe things are happening fast enough for us. 

Maybe you have never been inside a bar or a brothel. If so, you have done well.  

But I am sure you have experienced one or more of the states I listed above. 

And I haven’t even listed one of the most common places for temptation to strike: when we are on vacation. 

I have seen Christians who believe that it’s perfectly okay not just to take a vacation from the grind of daily life (which is perfectly acceptable – everyone needs to take a break sometimes), but also from their Christian life. They believe that ‘what happens on vacation stays on vacation’. 

Really? Do you think God goes on vacation too? 

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV 

[13] Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. [14] For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/ecc.12.13-14.NIV)

David was in Jerusalem. We don’t know why. There is nothing wrong with that. 

But he was there at the wrong time, which made it the wrong place for him to be. And his spiritual weakness at the time made it much worse. 

If you find yourself right now in the wrong place, either temporally, physically, spiritually or in any other way, do you know what to do?  

Get out of there. 

We pray to God to lead us not into temptation (Matthew 6:13). It is a catastrophic folly to find ourselves in a place where we are vulnerable to temptation and to stay there willingly. 

So do yourself a favour: leave that place. Do whatever it takes to get out of there and back to safety.  

David failed to do that. You don’t need to do the same. 

Apart from that simple piece of advice to not be where we shouldn’t be, we see a second piece of advice: Don’t Look Where You Shouldn’t Look. 

Don’t Look Where You Shouldn’t Look 

2 Samuel 11:2-3 NIV 

[2] One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, [3] and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2sa.11.2-3.NIV)

When my daughter was a child, we did our best to keep her from watching commercial TV.

The reason for that is simple: commercial TV is filled with advertising. Their children’s programming is filled with advertising for toys in particular. Children are too young to not fall prey to the mores of big multinationals. If you leave them for too long in front of commercial TV, they will start nagging for toys they don’t have and feel inadequate because they don’t have them. 

Nowadays it’s a lot harder. TV has been replaced by video streaming sites that are paid for by advertising and are less regulated than mainstream TV. Children measure their worth by what they have compared to what their peers have. It doesn’t take a child long to start pressuring their parents for something they don’t need or will play with for long simply so they can feel superior in class. 

We might look at children and believe they are immature, and that this sort of behaviour will wear out when they become adults. 

Really? 

Because this is what David did. 

And this is what we do when we engage in covetousness – an expression of which is adultery. 

These few verses contain facts about the temptation to commit adultery that are quite shocking, the first of which is that David looked down on her. 

This is a truth of which all of us need to be aware. 

David was physically higher up than she was: he was on the roof of his palace; women in those days traditionally bathed in a walled courtyard at night. Why? For modesty. They would bathe when no-one could see them. And to bathe, they would basically pour a jug of water over themselves. 

So, contrary to the rumours that some people spread to minimise David’s crime, she was not doing anything immodest or unusual.  

The fact that David saw her had nothing to do with what she was doing or where she was and everything to do with what David was doing and where David was. He would have been higher up than her, on the roof of his palace, looking down on her behind the courtyard wall. 

Now, this teaches us a huge reality that many nowadays are silent about. David would not just have looked down at her physically, but also metaphorically. He was the king, after all. Whether or not she was a willing participant in what was about to happen is immaterial: she would not have had the right to withdraw consent.  

Moreover, David also had a harem of women he could use for sexual gratification (2 Samuel 16:21-22). This might explain the rebuke David received from Nathan, where he compared David to a rich man with large flocks and herds who stole ewe lamb from a poor man (2 Samuel 12:1-7). 

As much as it shocks us to admit it, there is no sign that this most beloved of kings was not going to treat Bathsheba as one of them – not yet anyway. 

David was using Bathsheba for his own gratification.  

Now, here is a terrible truth. For many of our modern generation, love is a myth. They use other people for their own gratification, dating people for meaningless, commitment-free sex as if they were buying a junk food meal when they were hungry. The people they date mean absolutely nothing to them. They are little more than a drug or a pill to stave of loneliness and despair or to ‘scratch an itch’.  

They are looking down on those they use in this way. They are not loved. They are not valued. They are not respected. They are not even a person. 

They are objectified. They are nothing less than a means to an end. 

The same with those who offer ‘professional’ services, online or otherwise. They are not valued. They are not loved. They are exploited. They are little more than a means to an end.

Love is a stranger to them. Sex is a transaction. 

And that is a tragic state to be in. There is no amount of money or status in the world that can counter the feeling of worthlessness and meaninglessness and emptiness that this lifestyle brings. No amount of drugs or therapy or alcohol will ever chase it from them. 

They are not a person, they are an object: an object that is used, abused and then tossed in the trash like yesterday’s news. 

As soon as the ravages of age bite deeper than surgery or procedures can repair, as soon as someone else comes along who is younger or prettier or more nubile, people who indulge other people’s fantasies will be pushed aside and ignored. 

And it will be close to impossible to wash off the indelible stain on their reputation and self-worth. Their past will be tattooed on them. They will not be able to escape it. 

That is the truth. 

It ought to shatter our heart that young people bereft of hope or self-confidence are surrendering their lives and souls to adultery as a way of life. 

But Bathsheba hadn’t done that. That’s the thing. She was looked down on by David, who grossly abused the power he had over her, and had no way out of a transactional relationship that benefited only David. 

Listen to me and listen well: if you get involved in any form of adultery, you will mean nothing to your co-conspirator. You will be nothing to them but a means to an end. 

Don’t do it. Don’t do it at all. 

But there is worse. David looked too long at Bathsheba. 

This should be so absolutely obvious. 

He saw a woman bathing. Maybe it was out of the corner of his eye. Out of respect for her as a human being, and for her privacy, that should have been it: he should have averted his gaze. 

He didn’t. He kept looking. 

He then asked about her. He was told who she is: the wife of a member of his own guard (2 Samuel 23:39). It shouldn’t have mattered that he was a foreigner. She was married. That should have been enough. 

But it wasn’t. He kept looking. 

And that’s the problem. We don’t avert our eyes. We don’t turn away when we realise who they are and what they do. 

We keep looking. 

And that is when the coveting starts. 

As we saw in an earlier study, what we see has a huge bearing on what we covet. Look again at the first temptation: 

Genesis 3:6 NIV 

[6] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.3.6.NIV)

‘She saw... it was pleasing to the eye’. Eve and Adam were not tempted by an ugly looking fruit. It looked good. The things that tempt us to covet them always look good. 

A thought occurred to me that I have found really helpful. Think about those who make a career out of adultery. How much effort do they put into their appearance? How much make-up do they use? How many procedures to they endure? How many surgeries do they have? How many times do they use lighting tricks and camera effects and filters? 

When you are being enticed by them, you are not being enticed by them as they are, but by the idea of them, the fantasy of them. That is what they are selling, not the real them. You are not falling for the real them. You are falling for the fake them. 

You are falling for their marketing. 

What you are enticed by is not them, but someone else’s artistry or medical skills or technical wizardry. It’s fake. All of it. 

If you want to beat the temptation to covet, and particularly its form as lust, you need to stop looking at things you should not be looking at and perceive them as they are: a lie designed to entrap you. 

This why Jesus said this: 

Matthew 5:29 NIV 

[29] If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.29.NIV)

If you take this seriously and avert your gaze from where it should not be, you will find the temptation to commit adultery is greatly weakened. 

So we have seen, then that we should not be where we ought bot to be nor look where we ought not to be looking. The final piece of very simple advice is this: Don’t Do What You Shouldn’t Do. 

Don’t Do What You Shouldn’t Do 

2 Samuel 11:4-5 NIV 

[4] Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. [5] The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2sa.11.4-5.NIV)

There are many mountain villages in the stunning country of Switzerland where there is an elevated risk of avalanches. These are events that only God, in His wisdom, could have designed. Elsewhere, snowflakes are beautiful creations, admired for their delicate intricacies and uniqueness. However, high on the mountainside, if a bunch of them are disturbed by noise, weather or by seismic movement, they can form into small snowballs, which tumble down the slope, gathering in speed and growing in size as they fall.  

By they land at the bottom, these tiny, delicate, beautiful snowflakes have formed into giant boulders that can destroy vehicles, homes and even lives. 

But they start so small. So insignificant. 

Sin snowballs. It gathers in speed until it becomes so utterly destructive that it’s almost impossible to stop. That’s what James described in his stark warning: 

James 1:13-17 NIV 

[13] When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; [14] but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. [15] Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. [16] Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. [17] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.1.13-17.NIV)

That is precisely what happens with David. His sin snowballs until it becomes an unstoppable avalanche that caused nothing but havoc for him, Bathsheba, his family and, yes, his nation. Look at what happened: 

• David sleeps with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:4). Some commentators have highlighted that Bathsheba offered no resistance, while Queen Vashti later did (Esther 1:12), so therefore Bathsheba could not be free of blame. However, that ignores two key differences between Bathsheba and Vashti. Firstly, this event occurred in two very different cultures. Secondly, Bathsheba was a commoner, not royalty. Did she had the right of refusal? Would she had otherwise been brought to David by force? It seems a little unfair to apportion any blame to Bathsheba given David is seriously abusing his kingly powers. However you spin this, David is absolutely in the wrong and has committed an offence against the seventh commandment (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18) that is worthy of death (Leviticus 20:10). 

• Bathsheba became pregnant (2 Samuel 11:4). The timing of this is very interesting. Bathsheba has carried out the rituals required for her period (2 Samuel 11:4; Leviticus 15:19-30). This shows her to be conscientious about her obedience, whereas David is clearly not. This also highlights that the baby could not have been anyone else’s but David’s because Bathsheba was not pregnant at the time when they slept together. 

• David tries to cover it up with an elaborate, but ridiculously futile, scheme to get Bathsheba’s husband to sleep with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:9-13). We know now, of course, that this would never have worked: the baby would have looked like David, not Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband). It just shows you what happens when you are so caught up in a sin that you go to ridiculous lengths to try to cover it up. Uriah’s refusal to go home and sleep with his wife is also incredibly ironic: he is more faithful to David and the army than David is to him, even whole drunk! 

• David commanded his death, and, in a further dose of ugly irony, Uriah carried the sealed orders for his death to Joab (2 Samuel 11: 14-15).

• David married Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:27). 

It might seem like David has at has done something right. After all, he slept with her, impregnated her and had her husband killed. Surely he owed her at least! 

But we need to understand that she was actually David's fourth wife. His first was Saul’s daughter Michal (1 Samuel 18:20-29). His second was Ahinoam of Jezreel (1 Samuel 25:43). His third was Abigail, ex-wife of Nabal (1 Samuel 25). 

Now, marriage then was as much a financial transaction as it was a love relationship. David was at least trying to make up for what he had done by providing for the woman he had harmed by taking her out of her husband’s arms. But it is a case of ‘too little, too late’. The sins he had committed were too gross for him to absolve himself by taking responsibility for the results. 

This whole sorry affair is summed up in one sober sentence: 

2 Samuel 11:27 NIV 

[27] But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2sa.11.27.NIV)

However, the effects of David’s sin do not end here. The son born to Bathsheba died (2 Samuel 12:15-19). 

And then we see David’s immorality reflected in the lives of his sons. 

Amnon raped his sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1-22). David said and did nothing. How could he after what happened with Bathsheba? 

Tamar’s brother Absalom murdered Amnon (2 Samuel 13:23-39). Again, David did nothing. How could he? He had ordered the death of Uriah! 

Absalom then plotted against and overthrew David (2 Samuel 15). David knew it was coming, but did nothing. How could he? Like Absalom, when Saul has been king, David had gained popularity at Saul’s expense. 

Absalom was then killed (2 Samuel 17:24-18:17). 

So David had killed one man, but as a result of his sin, he lost three sons, and his family was in utter chaos. 

And he now lacked the moral authority to do anything about it. 

Such is the pain of what happens when adultery poisons a family. 

Now, we might come up with excuses like ‘It won’t happen to me – I’ll use protection’ or ‘It’s not a sin if I don’t get caught’ or ‘I’ll look, but I won’t touch’. None of these matter.

Remember: lust and adultery are forms of covetousness which is a thought crime before it becomes a deed crime. Thinking and fantasising about it are already a sin, never mind doing it. 

Which is why I am saying that no-one is innocent when it comes to adultery. 

So how do we keep ourselves from its perilous and pernicious effects? 

Don’t do it. 

 Conclusion 

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 NIV 

[18] Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. [19] Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; [20] you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.6.18-20.NIV)

Romans 6:11-14 NIV 

[11] In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. [12] Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. [13] Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. [14] For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.6.11-14.NIV)

We are so used to movies having a ‘happy end’ that it’s jarring when there isn’t one. It feels like the story isn’t complete. 

David enjoyed one night of passion with a beautiful woman who just happened to be married to a member of his elite guard. What followed was nothing short of disastrous. 

And there is no Hollywood ending. 

Yes, he did confess his sin, repented and was forgiven (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51). But – and this is very important – this did not exempt David, or his family, or his nation, from feeling the consequences of his sin.  

You see, adultery nowadays has become a sin that we see as entertaining. Amusing. Titillating. Fun. 

It is not. 

It is like juggling with nuclear warheads. We might think we’re getting away with it for a time, but sooner or later the bomb will go off and we will be facing utter catastrophe and ruin. 

Nowadays, it’s one of the most prolific forms of covetousness. A recent survey revealed that up to 80% of men are believed to have accessed pornography. Imagine that: four out of every five men. It has reshaped and distorted relationship in ways even our worst nightmares could never have imagined. Adulterous relationships had already objectified human beings and turned those who had been made in the very image of God into something cheap, used for entertainment purposes in the most intimate way and then cast aside when no longer deemed to be fit for purpose. That was already deeply tragic and a heartless distortion of God’s plan for humanity. 

But to commercialise it, to exploit it for meaningless profit, to debase the most delicate and intimate relationship a human can know and to turn it into a money-making asset, or worse, to commercialise its most violent and horrific caricatures, is a clear indication of how utterly depraved the human race can be. 

Let me make this plain: this form of covetousness is a serious and destructive sin from which we must repent now. Yes, it is true that God’s grace is there to cleanse and forgive.  

However, the more we remain in this sin, the more we relapse back into it, the worse the damage this sin will cause to our relationships with our family, our God and ourselves. 

The best advice we can all heed is the advice David did not take. That advice would have saved him years of pain and heartache and would have saved the lives of three of his sons. 

What is that advice? 

Don’t be where you should not be. 

Don’t look where you should not look. 

Don’t do what you should not do. 

If you are caught up in any form of adultery – any form at all – I urge you to confess it and repent of it now before any more harm is done. Once you have repented, show your repentance by following those three simple pieces of advice to the letter. 

It just might save your life. 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I confess that this study has been like sitting under a very painful x-ray of my soul. I confess that I hear been where I should not have been, looked where I should not have looked, done what I should not have done. I repent of them all now. I know this is not the life You want for me. Help me to live better. Amen. 

Questions for Contemplation 

• Why was what David did so wrong? 

• How can we avoid falling into the same trap? 

• Have you been involved in any form of adultery? What should you do now? Will you do it?