2Sa 11:3 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?

2 Samuel records the worst of David’s life. With Saul out of the picture, David is now rich and powerful. And with prosperity and success, comes complacency. In his troubles, David prayed to God. Now that everything is smooth sailing, he drifts away from God. It is as Agur warned: “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD?” (Proverbs 30:9). Wealth tempts to pride, unbelief, and a scorn like that of Pharaoh (Exodus 5:2). When men reach this stage in their lives, they say: “Who is God? I do not need Him: I can live without Him.” The devil moves into David’s life when God is forgotten. David is enjoying life at this moment; he stays at home while his generals are fighting wars for him. With nothing to do, he is at his roof top enjoying an evening breeze. He sees a woman bathing. Godly men will quickly move away their gaze. But David stays on. The woman is beautiful in his eyes. Which man does not like beautiful women? David loves women for he has more than one wife (1Samuel 25:42-43, 2Samuel 3:2-5). David’s practice of adding wives shows a lack of restraint of his passions. Today, he shows the same lack of restraint when he looks on the woman and lusts after her. It is no sin when your eyes suddenly caught sight of a beautiful girl; it is a sin when you begin to lust after her. It becomes worse when you stalk after her. Well, it’s what David did: he made inquiry concerning the woman. Then he knew she was married and her name was Bathsheba. And her husband was his loyal soldier and his name, Uriah. But it did not stop David from leaving her alone – he brought her to his house and lay with her. She became pregnant. To conceal his crime, he called her husband back from the front line. Pretending to be a good boss, he told Uriah he could take time off and be with his wife. He even had dinner sent to Uriah’s house. What a great hypocrite! But Uriah chose to stay in the barracks with the soldiers. Frustrated, David decided to get rid of Uriah. He wrote to his commander in chief, Joab, to have Uriah killed in the battlefield. And worst of all, he had Uriah delivering his own death sentence to Joab. Indeed, it always gets worse each time – sin starts small and it gets bigger. David’s sin was not in seeing Bathsheba; it was accidental. David’s sin was in choosing to keep his eyes on an alluring image which let the lust fester with serious outcome. James warns: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14, 15). The way to overcome temptation is to “nib it in the bud.” The idiom means to stop something before it gets worse, like nipping a flower when it's still a bud so it can't grow. If David had just walked away the moment his eyes caught sight of the woman bathing, nothing would have happened. Solomon says the way to flee from temptation is to flee from temptation: “Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Proverbs 4:15). Isn’t it obvious – the way to stop smoking is to stop smoking?                                                                   Joseph was more severely tempted to commit sexual immorality than David was here, but he fled that temptation (Genesis 39:7-13). Instead, David pursued the temptation. He inquired about the woman. He brought her to his house. He committed fornication with her. Then, he killed her husband so he could have her permanently. In it all, David embraced the temptation. One reason you are stuck into a certain sin is because you embrace it; you love what you are doing and you cannot live without it. Ask the adulterer and he will tell you he loves the woman. Ask the person who is in an unscriptural marriage and he/she will reply he/she cannot help it. Brethren, there is no repentance until there is a giving up of sin. May the experience of David be a warning to us to flee temptation.