In my mind

Last week, my Bible study group finished week seven of A Heart Like His.
For those of you playing at home, you may be thinking that we finished week six about three weeks ago. And you would be right.
But summer is a time full of vacations and no schedules. We have embraced summer and are not getting bogged down in Bible study legalism.
And, sure, we may not be finished learning about David until Christmas, but whatever.
Anyway, week seven is entitled “The Wages of Sin”.
You just know it’s not going to be pretty.
Sure enough, day one kicks off with David seeing Bathsheba taking a bath and ends with her being pregnant with his child.
Not good.
As many times as I’ve heard this story, I kept reading it wishing and hoping it would end differently than it did the first 100 times. Especially after I’ve spent the last six weeks following David’s incredible rise to the throne and the character, dignity and faith in God that guided him along the way.
How did this happen? How did David fall?
Well, first, he fell because he was human. All of us are going to fail which is why we need Jesus.
But there were a few other factors.
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had never noticed this before, but Beth points out in 2 Samuel 11:1 that we see David send Joab off to war instead of going himself. David stayed in Jerusalem when he should have been with his men.
When he walked up to the roof and saw Bathsheba bathing, he was in a place he shouldn’t have been in the first place with too much time on his hands. That’s a dangerous combination.
The sight of Bathsheba caused David to have thoughts he shouldn’t have, which led to him sending for her, which led to the conception of a child.
I’ll let y’all put all those pieces together.
The bottom line is that it was David’s thoughts that began his journey down a bad road. If he had asked God to give him the strength to think on what is pure, what is lovely, what is holy as opposed to asking one of his men to go get Bathsheba, that would have been the end of the story.
Beth made it very clear how important it is that we safeguard ourselves from wrong actions by confessing the sins of our thoughts.
It’s really made me think about my thought life. How many times do I let my mind go down a path it shouldn’t go? How often do I get all judgy in my head about someone? How often do I dwell on something longer than I should?
I’ve spent the last week trying to remember to ask God to take those thoughts and forgive me for them before they turn into words or actions that could be hurtful.
I have a long way to go, but it’s definitely made me think more about where I let my mind go and where it shouldn’t go. Because how much better is it to stop something potentially hurtful in my head before it becomes a word or an action?
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2