Crossroads

by R. Armstrong, Toronto | Category: Crossroads | Jan 1969

And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon ... But David tarried still at Jerusalem." (2 Samuel 11.1).

A strong, well-trained army went out to liquidate a long-standing enemy of Israel. David knew the origin of the Ammonites. Ben-ammi was a son of Lot, the offspring of an illicit relationship with one of his daughters. This was the sad end of a self-choosing man who had barely escaped the holocaust of Sodom. The nomad desert-dwellers who came from this sinful union had no use for Israel.

David knew all this, and yet he chose to stay at home when his army was commissioned to destroy them. Pressures at home may have caused David to send Joab to do the job. Whatever the circumstances, David made a wrong decision. Surely the New Year was a time to review the record of profit and loss. A time to look forward to new conquests for God.

Satan wanted more than anything to stain David's life. He knew David to be a man God could count on. Satan saw his opportunity. The king was alone, relaxing, depending on Joab to lead his army to victory. After all, he was a seasoned general, capable of handling the situation. Bathsheba was alluring and unaccompanied .... Then with tragic suddenness the deed was done. Years of sad repercussion followed in both David's personal life and that of his family. The eternal record is there for all to read who will heed the warning.

We stand at the door of another year. How will the record read for you and me when the year is done? What are our affinities? In what direction do they lie? These are important. To what do we gravitate in "off-hours"? Do we seek unplanned leisure? Remember, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17.9).

Only as we reckon ourselves "to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6.11), can we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. May our affinities and desires lie in the direction of the kingdom of God and His righteousness, as He has given to each, severally, a gift. God forbid that we should be found in any endeavour that does not have as its objective the extension of His kingdom.

Someone has written "The crisis of our times is ... a crisis in human relations involving disintegration in men's minds". How then can the people of God be preserved amid such corrupting influences? " Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2.5).

R. Armstrong, Toronto | Jan 1969
Crossroads