If you think you are standing, take care that you don’t fall. If things are going really well for you, praise God, but keep your guard up. You are most vulnerable when you seem to be least vulnerable, that is, during times of success. Just remember, you are invincible only as long as you are acknowledging your utter dependence on God to keep you pure and satisfy your every longing.
Going Deep // Focus: 1 Chronicles 20:1
In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, Joab led the Israelite army in successful attacks against the land of the Ammonites. In the process he laid siege to the city of Rabbah, attacking and destroying it. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
Few people can handle adversity well, but even fewer success! King David is proof positive of that.
Springtime in ancient Israel was the season for war, and kings in those days led their troops into battle. But this time, the text tells us that David didn’t. He stayed at home doing “other things.” The chronicler, likely Ezra, chooses not to include the details of David’s activities, but 2 Samuel 11 spells it out in painful detail: David was having an affair with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his mighty men, Uriah.
Someone once came up with the notion that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, and in this particular case, that is exactly right. David should have been leading, but instead he was cheating. It is likely that success had gone to his head, and that he had begun to feel invincible, impervious to danger and entitled to anything he wanted—including women. Power tends to do that to you. So does the worship of people who are infatuated with powerful people. Since David wielded immense power, perhaps he succumbed to what amounted to the hero worship of the Israelites. And no one but God is built to handle worship—not David, the man after God’s own heart, nor you, and not me.
David was at the height of power and success. God had given him victory from his enemies on ever front. The boundaries of the nation had expanded, and were now as secure as they had ever been. The economy was thriving and the people were prospering. And the worship of God had never been better at a national level. Things were going well for the king. Then, boom! David let his guard down and took the haymaker of an illicit sexual affair that knocked his life, his family and his leadership of the nation off course for quite a while.
By the way, one of the reasons why scripture never sugar-coats the moral failings of our heroes is to remind us that what happened to them can certainly happen to us. The Apostle Paul made this very clear in 1 Corinthians 10:11-13,
These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
If you think you are standing, take care that you don’t fall. If things are going really well for you, praise God, but keep your guard up. You are most vulnerable when you seem to be least vulnerable, that is, during times of success. Just remember, you are invincible only as long as you are acknowledging your utter dependence on God to keep you pure and satisfy your every longing.
Beware success. How alert you stay to its dangers will determine how well you will wear it.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.