Faint Not

2 Samuel 11 : 1 - 5, It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child." NKJV

God had given David a divine purpose. In fact, He has given every person a divine purpose on the earth. Some will fulfill their purpose, and some will choose to fulfill the lusts of their flesh. One spring, when the kings went out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants. Apparently David had grown weary in serving the Lord by choosing not to carry out his purpose that spring.

If you will read chapter 12 in 2 Samuel, you will see where God tells David that He would have given him more... if the blessings that he had already received were not enough. Obviously, there had come a separation in the communion between David and his Lord. Let's look at this story from a different perspective. We're told in Galatians 6 not to grow weary in well doing, for in due season, we will reap... if we don't faint.

David had fainted in doing the will of God that year, and it cost him dearly. Perhaps the enemy had convinced David that he had reached the top, and that he had gotten all that God was willing to offer him; after all, he "was" king over Israel. Something made him decide to remain in Jerusalem instead of carrying out the Lord's purpose for his life. Take careful notice of what can happen should we decide we're too tired to go out into battle (to the war that is against the lusts of our flesh) and decide to give in to them. It opened the door for Satan to tempt David with adultery, and then to the murder of Uriah to cover it up.

Are you tired of doing well? Have you decided to stay at home instead of going to battle against the enemy of your soul? This one occasion in the spring of the year brought a curse upon David's house, and it cost him the child that was conceived.

In chapter 12, God speaks through the prophet Nathan and tells the king that if what he had given him had not been enough, that He would have given him so much more. This tells us that David wasn't looking to God to supply his desires, but to himself. He chose the lust of his fleshly heart instead of the passion of his heart for the Lord. David had allowed Satan to blind him to the blessings that God would have given him had he continued to obey. And Satan used that season to rob David of future blessings and the security of the past blessings that he had already enjoyed.

Instead of peace, the sword was now in the king's house. You see, in the context of the passage in Galatians 6, we're told that if we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption from our flesh. If Satan is lying to you about the blessings of God being dried up, and he's telling you that there is no reason in the natural why you should continue to go to battle and contend for the faith, beware. Jesus tells us in John 10 : 10 that the thief only hangs out with us so that he can steal, kill, and destroy the blessings of life that God has given to us. Lust will never give you anything other than a moment's pleasure, but will rob from you the blessings of peace, joy, and fulfillment. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Contending for the Faith,
Pastor Asa