Don't Forget Who You Are

In and around our lives, spiritual warfare is constantly being waged. While we fight from a place of victory that never gives us an excuse to live naively disengaged from these battles.  That choice will place us and our loved ones in great peril. Disengagement opens the door to things an engaged warrior would never consider.

One of the saddest stories in Scripture records the sin of King David with Bathsheba. One day, David is an honored king. The next day he becomes a rapist and murderer. How did that happen with such rapidity? II Samuel 11:1 gives us some insight, “In the spring of the year when kings normally go out to war…David stayed behind in Jerusalem.” David was supposed to be leading his troops but chose to abandon his role and remain behind at home while his men fought the battle. What followed was the forced sexual encounter with Bathsheba, her pregnancy, and the positioning of her husband, Uriah, to be killed in battle to cover up David’s sin.

David called Uriah back from the battlefront with an invitation for Uriah to  “Go on home and relax” and enjoy a night of intimacy with his wife.  It was David's hope Uriah's one night encounter with his wife would cause people to think it was Uriah who impregnated his wife, not David. Uriah refused to go to his home and slept instead at the palace entrance with the palace guard. David tried again to get Uriah to abandon his duty.  He invited Uriah to dinner and got him drunk, giving him another opportunity to sleep with his wife. Again, Uriah slept at the palace entrance with the palace guards. Uriah refused David’s offer saying, “My master’s men are camping in open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife?

David stayed home disengaged from battle. Uriah remained engaged as a warrior. Even when called back from the frontlines, Uriah slept with other warriors. He kept his battle-ready mindset intact. When warriors forget their rightful place in battle, it creates an opening for unnecessary death and destruction. As believers, we are never without spiritual conflict. If we stay spiritually active and battle-ready, fully armored in Christ, nothing will be able to take us down. An offer of compromise, no matter how appealing and well-crafted, will not have the power to disengage us from our assignment.