Midnight Stroll

 I don't know what happens when we get older that causes us to have trouble sleeping. I have talked to many who awake in the middle night unable to go back to sleep. They get up to read, pray, watch tv, or remain in bed tossing and turning. I have had my fare share of sleepless nights. Typically, between 2:00-3:30 a.m.  I read the story of one such man who got up to take a midnight stroll when sleep evaded him. That little night walk proved pivotal. 

2 Samuel 11:1-5 (NASB)
¹  Then it happened in the spring, 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 sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.
²  Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.
³  So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
⁴  David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.
⁵  The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant." 

The first thing we notice is that King David remained at home while the troops were out fighting for him and the advancement of Israel. At this time in David's life, he had multiple wives. He did not lack for companionship. Instead of leading the troops David remained at home. Instead of satisfying his sexual desires with one of his wives he chose to walk on the roof. If David had chosen to go with his troops the blight on his character would not have happened. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. 

The second thing to note is that one night David could not sleep. People should be careful what they do when they are unable to sleep. Be careful of what they view. A midnight stroll on the roof turned into a pornographic watch party of a beautiful woman taking a bath. David should have turned away and walked away. He didn't. He kept watching and lusting. He lost his sense of morals, honor, and integrity. He forgot His God. He forgot his own family. Lust consumed him. 

David inquired. Many times, David inquired of God. On this night David inquired about the woman taking a bath. Big difference. Wrong inquiry. The man that God would say was a man after His own heart did not desire God that night. David desired a one-night fling. He desired a night of passion with a complete stranger. 

We learn that Bathsheba was the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah. David had daughters. One of them was violated by a stepbrother and David got angry. He had no such regard for Bathsheba. She was a sex object. Someone to fulfill his sexual fantasies and to gratify is unholy desire that played out in his mind as he stood gawking at this woman taking a bath. She was married. The covenant wife of Uriah. She was off limits.  Bound to another. None of that mattered. David stood, stared and commanded that she be brought to him. 

The Bible says she came to him, and David laid with her. That is a pretty tame way of stating what really happened. David committed adultery. He acted out his sexual fantasies. He forgot his covenant marriages. He forgot his God. He violated the law of God. He threw away the sacred for a night of sex. He was unfaithful. 

Bathsheba was not innocent. We do not read one single word about her resisting or refusing David's lustful passion and sexual advances. She did not honor her wedding vows. Was she so flattered that the king of Israel found her attractive and desirable. Did she lose her integrity starry eyed by the celebrity of David and his attention? She was all too willing to give her body to a man other than her husband. 

All of it started with a sleepless night and a midnight stroll. A night when David threw caution to the wind to pursue unbridled passionate lust. A night when a late-night bath turned into porn show for a king. 

You know the rest of the story. Bathsheba got pregnant. David tried to hide it. He had Uriah killed. He married Bathsheba. Everything seemed fine. Nobody would suspect anything except those messengers who went to bring Bathsheba to David that night. And oh yes God. God spoke to the prophet Nathan and revealed David's sin. David's night of passion ended up costing more than he could ever have imagined. God told David the sword would never depart from his family. In the following days, David's own children committed rape, murder, and one son tried to take the throne from David and had sex with some of David's wives while David and his followers ran for their life from Absalom. 

That midnight stroll cost David more than he ever wanted to pay. His lustful decision took him further into sin than he could ever have dreamed. 

What does any of this have to do with us? We may not be able to sleep on occasion. We can't help that. We can resolve what we do with that time. Clicking on the tv and watching inappropriate things is an unwise use of that time. Worse is clicking on the computer and getting caught up in romantic fantasies of past lovers via social media. Way worse is clicking that mouse on the computer to something that is XXX. Unlike David people may rationalize they are not hurting anyone while viewing pornography. I beg to differ. Each pornographic image is seared into the mind. Those images are often tried to be reenacted in the real-life marriage bed. Wives are compared unrealistically to cosmetically surgically enhanced women who are made over for the camera. They trade their bodies for unholy acts captured on film for a fistful of dollars. Women click on the same images to indulge in romantic fantasies that exclude their covenant spouse. 

Pornography is more addictive than drugs some experts say. Once a person is hooked, they typically stay hooked for a long time. Freedom is possible, but not without some pain along the way. 

My counsel is to be on guard. Be very careful on those sleepless nights. Be resolved what you put before your eyes. Be very purposeful what you do with your time when sleep evades. Do not be enticed by Satanic forces to his snares. Pray. Read. Stay away from anything remotely sex related that will prove to be a noose around your neck. Sin will take you further than you ever intended to go and cost you more than you ever wanted to pay. I wonder if in the later years of David's life if he ever reflected on that midnight stroll and wished he could take it back. Maybe have gone to war with the troops. Had not stopped and stared at Bathsheba when he glanced at her bathing. Walked away from watching. Sat down to pray and seek God rather than seeking sexual solace in the arms of a stranger. May we all be warned. May we learn valuable lessons from David's midnight stroll.