When Desire Has Conceived, It Gives Birth to Sin

David stayed in bed until evening, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. Though told that she was another man’s wife, he had her brought to him, and as a result she conceived a child.

While his soldiers were risking their lives on the battlefield, David remained behind in the palace. Sin has already begun the moment it is harbored in the heart; the more one tries to hide it, the more lies it breeds, and those lies end at last in the taking of a life. David summoned the woman’s husband and tried to send him home, but when the man refused to rest in comfort while his comrades were still in the field, David went on to arrange his death in battle.

The ease that followed victory and peace caused David’s heart to forget God, and into that empty place sin entered. What David had done was evil in the sight of God; he accomplished his human plans, yet before God he fell. The moment ease comes without hardship is the moment that calls for the greatest care, and it must be taken to heart that even in the very act of sinning, people do not recognize how far wrong they have gone.