DECEPTION HAS CONSEQUENCES
/
“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and
pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”–Titus 3:3
The first recorded instance of
deception that we read about in the Bible is when Satan deceived Eve, in the
Garden of Eden. God instituted consequences of deception when he told Satan that he would crawl
on his belly, eat dust and that his head would be crushed by the seed of woman Eve. Furthermore, Adam would toil in his farming
and Eve would suffer pain during childbirth.
King David is another example of
someone who was a committed follower of God.
Yet there was a time when this devoted man gave in to temptation and
committed adultery with Uriah’s wife. He
is walk of integrity was severely compromised.
“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.” Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.”
And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how
Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. And
David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah
departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. But Uriah slept at the
door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down
to his house. So when they told David, saying,
“Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come
from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel
and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord
are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink,
and to lie with my wife? As you
live, and as your soul lives, I
will not do this thing.” Then
David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you
depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called
him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went
out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to
his house. In the morning it
happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah
in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be
struck down and die.” So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that
he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of
the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the
Hittite died also. Then Joab sent
and told David all the things concerning the war, and
charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling the matters of
the war to the king, if it happens that the king’s
wrath rises, and he says to you: ‘Why did you approach so near to the city when
you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who struck Abimelech the
son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a
millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near
the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’” So the messenger went, and
came and told David all that Joab had sent by him. And the messenger said
to David, “Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field;
then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. The archers shot from
the wall at your servants; and some
of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead
also.” Then
David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this
thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen
your attack against the city, and overthrow it.’ So encourage him.” When the wife of Uriah heard
that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. And when her mourning
was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and
bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord (2 Samuel 11: 1-27).
Ethical and moral failing have beset Christians throughout
the ages. When a believer decides to do
whatever it takes to obtain something he or she wants, then selfishness or
greed is the root cause. At other times
the desire for acceptance can tempt us to manipulate people and circumstances—or
fabricate lies in order to seem more desirable.
And fear of conflict can result in compromised standards; many people
try to fit in so they can avoid arguments.
At first, even those close to us may not notice our deception. But God sees.
He will use our conscience to produce guilty feelings so we might
confess our sin and turn from it.
Self-protection will take over if we continue in unrighteousness. We will try to quiet our conscience by
justifying the behavior. Over time, we
will draw away from certain people so they will not discover our ungodly
behavior. By keeping them at a distance,
we hope to avoid their scrutiny.
Habitual sin may result in lost job opportunities, damaged friendships,
and broken families.
It was not until David’s close friend, Nathan, confronted him
that David was willing to acknowledge his sin, “So David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ And Nathan
said to David, ‘The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2
Samuel 12:13). Not only did David
suffer a consequence to his sin, but
Bathsheba did too; their child died.
How do you respond when the Holy Spirit convicts you of
ungodliness and deception? Do you see the reality of your behavior and
repent, or do you try to justify and persist in your conduct?
Prayer—Father I ask You
to forgive me for any time that I have purposefully deceived others. Today I turn from all attempts of cover-ups
and ask You to have mercy upon me and to remove the sting of the consequences
in my life, others that I am involved with, and ministry, in Jesus Name. Amen.
