Be Careful Where We Put Our Eyes/ 2 Samuel 11: 1b, 2-15, 26-27 NIV

Be Careful Where We Put Our Eyes 2 Samuel 11: 1b, 2-15, 26-27 NIV 

Purpose: After listening to the sermon, we will be able to understand that it    is very easy to abuse the power that God has given us when we wander far from Him.


11In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,  3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”  4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.  5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.  7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.  8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.  9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
Sermon for Service on Sunday, July 19, 2015 by Claudia Nava-Galloway ________________________________________________________________________
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11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,[a] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 
13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 
15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

This is the Word of God For the people of God, Praise be to God. Amen



Be Careful Where We Put Our Eyes 2 Samuel 11: 1b, 2-15, 26-27 NIV
 
Purpose: After listening to the sermon, we will be able to understand that it    is very easy to abuse the power that God has given us when we wander far from Him.   

Outline
I. Introduction
II. What is abuse of power?
III. Explanation of the text: 2 Samuel 11: 1b, 2-15, 26-27
IV. Conclusion[s]
V. Prayer    



Be Careful Where We Put Our Eyes 2 Samuel 11: 1b, 2-15, 26-27 NIV
  
Purpose: After listening to the sermon, we will be able to understand that it    is very easy to abuse the power that God has given us when we     wander far from Him.
  
 When you used to play with your friends and siblings, do you
remember who gave the instructions of the game??? In my case, I was who
the majority of the time gave the instructions for such and such game. And if
someone didn't like the instructions, then this friend couldn't play with us or
even my baby sister. Other times, I remember when I used to go to the store
with my baby sister, I was the only one who had money to buy something,
because I had saved my money. Then I decided to buy an ice cream. I
bought my ice cream, and of course, she was with me. When she asked me
for some ice cream, I said to her, "No, it is mine. I bought it with my
money." Then she begged me until I made a deal with her. Okay, I am going
to give you some ice cream, but you are going to play dolls with me and you
will pick all the toys up when we finished playing. She always agreed with
the conditions I said.
 I was not very nice, because I used the influence, the resources, and
the power that I had over my baby sister and other friends in order to do
Sermon for Service on Sunday, July 19, 2015 by Claudia Nava-Galloway ________________________________________________________________________
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whatever I wanted. I didn't care if they were happy playing with me or not. I
didn't pay attention if my youngest sister was comfortable picking up the
toys after we played. And I didn't have any problem with my conscience at
night. I slept very well. I assumed that I always could get whatever I
wanted!!! Sadly and without knowing it, I was abusing my position as an
older sister and as a friend. I was using my power and position to get
whatever I wished, for my own selfish benefit. Amazingly, some children
don't learn how power, resources, and position are for the benefit of the
community and not just for oneself, and carry this attitude through adulthood
and the rest of their lives.
 This attitude made me realized that it was okay to be lazy. So very
often my friends and sister did all the work for me. And not just that, the
danger of being lazy is more than just not wanting to do the task. It is the
boredom that can lead one to look for something to do or to see that it is not
going to be very helpful or healthy for oneself. Obviously when we start
seeking for something, the first sense that we are going to use is our sight.
We are going to start paying attention with our eyes to see what is attractive
to us. Actually, in my mother country there is a saying, the eyes are the
window of the soul.
Sermon for Service on Sunday, July 19, 2015 by Claudia Nava-Galloway ________________________________________________________________________
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 Have you thought why the eyes are the window of the soul??? Maybe
the eyes are the window of the soul, because the great majority of the time of
what we perceive and consider beautiful or ugly comes through our view or
sight. For example, the first time you saw your husband, you thought that he
was the most beautiful thing in the world, or husbands, the first time that you
saw your wife you thought that she was an angel in the form of a woman.
That is, the attraction of someone or something, very often, comes through
our eyes. Also, I believe that in some way the Holy Spirit gives testimony
of what we carry in our soul. For instance, if our eyes light up for desserts,
maybe we struggle with the sin of gluttony. If our eyes light up for
possessions, probably we have difficulty with the sin of greed. If our eyes
light up with helping people with their problems, maybe we have the gift of
compassion. So in some very clear sense, the eyes are the window of the
soul. 
 Actually, something very similar was happening to David. Here is the
great King David of Israel, resting in his palace and being lazy, when his
entire army is in the battle field fighting. He woke up and he started walking
on the roof of his palace, when suddenly he saw a beautiful woman, who
was not any of his wives, bathing. Her name was Bathsheba. He could easily
have respected her and looked in other direction and left. But no, instead of
Sermon for Service on Sunday, July 19, 2015 by Claudia Nava-Galloway ________________________________________________________________________
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respecting her, almost certainly, he was there until she finished taking a bath.
Then he sent someone to inquire about her. Once he knew who she was, 
King David sent for her. And the Hebrew verb that is used in the Old
Testament is translated as a rape. And after he abused her, he sent her back
to her house as an object instead of a human being. 
 It is clear that David used his power, his resources, and his
position for only self-satisfaction and self-interest. David sinned with all
the intention of the world. The desire for Bathsheba entered through the
eyes of David. He assumed that his powerful position, his resources, and
his influence were able to make him untouchable and superior to do
whatever he wanted. However, once he realized that he was at a high risk
of being discovered and losing the respect and the good reputation in the
eyes of his subjects for his adultery, King David panicked and tried to cover
up the adultery as a result of a baby on the way. Without noticing, King
David started drawing himself in the dirt of one sin after another. His
situation was a bad domino effect condition. Sadly, it was King David who
invited bad luck into his life. He thought that his privileged position was
going to give him immunity, or in some sense that he was going to be able to
control the situation and other people’s lives. But the reality was that he
didn't have the control over anything outside of himself. He couldn't control

Bathsheba’s body, because she had conceived, and he couldn't control
Uriah's decision of not going to his house, because he was loyal to his
commander and to his fellow soldiers. 
 Without doubt, this David of the 11th chapter looks so different from
the David of the other chapters. It seems like he is a completely different
person. And He is. Three chapters before, he couldn't be at peace, because
the ark of the Covenant was not with him. He was even dancing when the
ark came to him. He was so connected with God, to the point of inquiring
and asking God for any of God’s directions for his life. When he was in
trouble, he prayed to God for deliverance, and every time that David got a
victory, he gave God the credit. He was a very blessed man. However, this
time was very different, because this time King David was disconnected
with God. To be disconnected with God makes us different persons. Pay
attention how in no part of this chapter did David ask God for help or pray to
God for assistance or ask God for deliverance from temptation. David
created a big problem with his sin and he began to be desperate, because he
wanted to guard his honor and good reputation as the great King David that
he had become. He tried to convince Uriah to go to his house, eat, drink, and
be with his wife, but Uriah was an honest man who didn't want to take
Sermon for Service on Sunday, July 19, 2015 by Claudia Nava-Galloway ________________________________________________________________________
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advantage of what David was offering. As a last resort, David killed Uriah in
the battle field without any hesitation.    
 How many times we have let our sight guide us to get something
instead of stopping and asking God if this is what He wants for our lives?
Our eyes can easily become the window of our souls. What are we
watching? With what are we feeding our souls? If we see something
attractive, do we run and get it? How much do we open our minds and hearts
and invite God to live in our souls? We need to remember that the influence,
power, and resources that we have, have given to us by God in order to use
them according to His will and for the good of us and others. And the only
way we will know how to use them well is to be connected with God.  

Let us pray   
Good and heavenly Father Thank You so much for the opportunity that You have placed in our hands. The fact that we have power, influence, and resources that can affect ourselves and others, very often, is scary. Help us to be brave and intelligent enough to always ask You for Your guidance and for deliverance. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.