And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his slaves with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.  And it came to pass one evening, that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.  And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite?  And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in unto him, and he lay with her. Then she purified herself from her uncleanness, and she returned unto her house.  And the woman conceived and sent and told David and said, I am with child. 

 

 And it came to pass in the morning, 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 retire from him, that he may be smitten and die.   And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that the most valiant men were.  And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the people of the slaves 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 thou hast finished telling the matters of the war unto the king, and if the king begins to be angry and he should say unto thee, Why did you approach so near unto the city when ye fought? Did ye not know that which they can throw down from the wall?  Who smote Abimelech, the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall? Then thou shalt say, Thy slave Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also.  So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him for.  And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out unto us into the field, and we made them retreat unto the entering of the gate.  And the archers shot from off the wall upon thy slaves, and some of the king’s slaves are dead, and thy slave Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also. Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devours one as well as another; strengthen the battle against the city until it is overthrown and encourage thou him. And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her husband.  And when the mourning was past, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and gave birth to a son unto him. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. (2Sam: 11:1-5; 15-27-JUB)

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It is said that we make approximately 35,000 choices every day.  Some good, bad, wise, unwise, unhealthy, healthy, comprising, selfish, unselfish, hurtful and the list goes on.  But how many of us think about the choices that we make before we make them.  Do we weigh our choices?  How much weight do they carry?  Ultimately, we should weigh our choices simply because they will and can infect others for generations to come. Some of us are given very valuable choices to make, some life threats, some simple, however, regardless of the choice before us, they all have consequences attached to them which give them feet that may carry us somewhere we do not desire to go. 

 

Each of you today made a choice whether it was to stay were we are or go somewhere else.  We frequently take our choices for granted.  Allow me to give you an example: We choose to sit in a chair with no thought as to whether or not it will hold us, turn on the water faucet expecting the water to come out.  Sometimes we choose what clothes to wear and do not think about whether it is appropriate for us to wear this for the occasion, whether it is too short, too close, too revealing etc.  It is what we desire to wear at the time, and we choose to wear it . It is my belief that God wants us to think before we choose, it does make a difference not just in our lives but in those surrounded by us and those we encounter.

 

 Normally, when we read these scriptures, we focus on David and what he did, and I will admit he was definitely in error, but let us take a look just for a few minutes at Bathsheba and what she did.  Bathsheba was washing herself in view of the King’s rooftop.  As I pondered these scriptures, I could not help but wonder if she knew the King had not gone to war, if she knew he came to his rooftop often, or if her hope was that the King would see her bathing. Nevertheless, the choice was hers to make. Remember, all of Israel’s Kings should have been gone to war including David but he made the choice not to go.  Did Bathsheba hear about his choice?  We all know the story; King David inquired about Bathsheba and was told who she was.  He summons her to his palace.  Actually, the Bible says “he sent messengers and took her:  I do not know how it was in that day or era if she could have made a  choice to go or not to go.   Nevertheless, she still had a choice to trust God and not go or to succumb to the King’s demand and lay with him. 

   

 She made the choice to go.  Again, could she have asked for help and not go with the messengers, could she have tried to lock herself in a room somewhere in her palace or ask someone to come with her? These are questions we may never get answers to. This is where sometimes our choices take feet and carry us into places that are not necessarily where God would have us to go or somewhere we should not be. 

 

 It also attached some circumstances to the choice.  At this point, Bathsheba had the opportunity to think about the choice before she made it, whether she did or not, we may never know.  However, God does desire for us to not only think about our choices, but to weigh them. What circumstance am I attaching to this choice and what will come with it?  Ultimately, there are circumstances attached to every choice that we make some good and some bad.  Her next choice that she made was to lay with the King, in my personal opinion, this is never a good choice whether you are married or not. 

 

Did she consider the fact that she was a married woman who husband was fighting in a war, and perhaps it was her responsibility to stay faithful to him? It was a choice of her will.? Did she put up a fight to resist him? We must realize that God gave us free will to us so we can do as we please, so whatever we do is a choice of the will, especially if we are not submitting our wills to God daily.  Our will does have a choice and can take us to places that we will later regret. God gave us a free will, but he does desire us to control it.  We should stop being out of control because the Holy Spirit does reside inside of us.

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