II Samuel 11:1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
It Radiates From Home
King David was standing in his fabulous palace on a beautiful, polished floor that was totally infested with termites. He was about to fall though no one knew it. No, the problem was not pests in his floor; the problem was sin in his life. II Samuel 11:1 says, “After the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel.” David stayed in Jerusalem. Many preachers have made the point that if David had been at the right place at the right time he would not have fallen into sin with Bathsheba. I would not argue that, but my question is, “Whom did David fail and how was David defeated?”
Had David gone with the army of Israel to defeat Ammon, he would have been doing his duty. By not doing that we assume he was a poor king, but the fact is your greatest victories and defeats radiate from home. They begin at home.
Who suffered by David’s staying at home? Was it his nation or his home? If you look at chapter 12, you find that Joab had no problem at all defeating the armies of Ammon. David’s army did not suffer, at least not immediately, by his not showing up. The ones who suffered were David and his house. David was an undefeated, wise king; he was a poor husband. Therefore, it was his family who primarily suffered the consequences.
When Nathan the prophet confronted David with his sin, he said, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house.” In verse 11 he goes on, “Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house.” Verse 14 says that the child who would be born to Bathsheba after David’s sin with her would die because David’s sin had given “great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme.” So, notice all the references to David’s home: “house,” “wives,” “child.”
The next several chapters unfold the whole tragic story that is about David’s house, not the nation. David failed as a husband, and he suffered as a father and as a husband. Now, David’s sin did affect the entire kingdom because you can’t successfully compartmentalize your life. You are only one person. You are the not the “church person,” the “house person,” and the “work person.” All these facets of your life should be working together in harmony. Your home is your priority or it’s your problem, and church is important to you precisely because your family is so important. You can’t properly take care of your family if you are not taking them to church. There is only one of you, and there needs to be integrity across all the parts of your life knowing that the greatest victories or defeats radiate from home to the rest of your life.