The Evening on the Roof
“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. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.”2 Samuel 11:1–2 (KJV)
David’s darkest chapter starts with a single sentence about where he wasn’t. “And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab… But David tarried still at Jerusalem.”
The king was supposed to be at war. Instead he was comfortable at home. Then: “it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house.” One idle evening led to adultery, deceit, murder and a family that never fully healed.
Comfort isn’t sin. But comfort in the wrong place makes us careless. David had won great battles. He may have felt he could afford to relax his guard. Paul warns about exactly that: “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Where are you supposed to be right now, and where are you instead? Temptation rarely shows up in the middle of the battle. It often waits on the roof, on a quiet evening, when we think we are safe.
Read it yourself
Read 2 Samuel 11:1–5. List each choice David made that took him one step further.
Where has comfort made you careless lately?
Lord, keep me where I’m meant to be. Guard me on the quiet evenings when I think I’m safe. Amen.