Few days ago, I read on 2 Sam 11:1-5 as my morning devotion. It’s a very rare passage for meditation and i hardly remember ever meditated on it before. The big lesson that I picked up from the story is this, you can’t let your guard down.<\/p>\n
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Few days earlier, I meditated on Proverbs that says,”Guard your heart with all vigilance..” I was wondering what does it mean? How to guard one’s heart?<\/p>\n
Apparently, in this story 2 Sam 11, there’s a beam of light on what does it mean to guard one’s heart.<\/p>\n
Do your due diligence<\/strong><\/p>\n The verse 1 is very telling. It’s the time of the season for kings to go war. So by right, David is supposed to go for war, because he is the king. It’s his duty. But instead doing what’s his due, David sent his commander, plus the whole army, and he stayed behind. There is simply something that we must take and do, and we can’t let others do on our behalf.<\/p>\n No time to slack<\/strong><\/p>\n The verse 2 is another cue that says in the evening \/ late afternoon, he woke up \/ got up from his bed (NIV). It’s very unusual to hear about David’s behavior. He’s known for staying up late and waking up early to praise God. Here it seems that he’s lazing around. When he ignored his official duty, now he’s ignoring his personal calling before God.<\/p>\n Watch what you see<\/strong><\/p>\n Still on verse 2, he let his eyes wander. Somehow it’s almost natural for man to pick up beautiful woman. He has let his guard down.<\/p>\n Stop it right there<\/strong><\/p>\n In verse 3-4, things are getting worse every second. David could stop at many points. He could have stopped at admiring the beauty, yet he inquired about the woman. He could have stopped at knowing who she is, yet he asked her to come. He could have stopped at meeting her, yet he slept with her.<\/p>\n And this morning, as I read Os classic book on Calling, interestingly he picked up this passage as one point to ponder. This is what he called the noonday demon, or the sin of sloth. We open ourselves to temptation when we sloth \/ losing all appetite and desire to strive, becoming contented with the mediocre.<\/p>\n Hence it becomes almost like a wake up call to me.<\/p>\n Either comfort has sapped my strength unknowingly, and hence i lost a fighting spirit. Or i’m facing the noonday demon that Os talked which bring into one’s soul despair for any effort to change. Both are not good outlook. I need to sit up and buckle up my belt for action. Certainly there’re things to be done and there are things which I just can’t delegate.<\/p>\n It’s probably one of the most embarrassing story in the Bible and the life of David in specific. Yet it contains truth so honest that if we denied it, we put ourselves in danger. We must never take too lightly the temptation or being too confident about ourselves. It’s not the big things that bring David’s downfall. It’s the small and simple thing, such as relaxing and having unguarded time.<\/p>\n It’s true of the Proverbs then,”Guard your heart with all diligence..”. We never know when the temptation will come. Lest we are diligent, in no time we’ll find ourselves in murky ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Few days ago, I read on 2 Sam 11:1-5 as my morning devotion. It’s a very rare passage for meditation and i hardly remember ever meditated on it before. The big lesson that I picked up from the story is … Continue reading