Don’t Take it Too Easy.

Scriptural Reference:

“In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…David remained in Jerusalem…David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing…David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her…The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, ‘I am pregnant.’” 2 Samuel 11:1, 2, 4, 5 (NIV)

“We…started off to Jerusalem. And the gracious hand of our God protected us and saved us from enemies and bandits along the way. So we arrived safely in Jerusalem, where we rested for three days.…When these things had been done, the Jewish leaders came to me and said, ‘Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.’’ Ezra 8:31, 32, 9:1 (NLT)

Application:
Times of ease are the times of greatest danger. We relax our guard, opening ourselves to temptation. King David took it easy at least one time too many. He skipped out on defending his kingdom while other kings were defending their territories. During his idle time, David impregnated another man’s wife and had her husband (one of his most trusted soldiers) murdered. (2 Samuel 11:1:15)
Remember Ezra? After he and God’s chosen people had arrived safely in Jerusalem loaded with riches, they took it easy. Some of their leaders and priests used their idle time to intermarry and pick up bad habits from their new pagan neighbors. (Note that it wasn’t intermarriage per se that got them in trouble, but picking up the “detestable practices” of unGodly people.) As a result, those same pagan neighbors killed and plundered God’s people. (Ezra 9:7)

Don’t get me wrong!
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Taking it easy is a necessary thing if it means giving ourselves a mental and physical rest from work.
But there is never an occasion for spiritual rest.
We need to be careful that our times of ease don’t drift into times of unGodliness.
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Prayer:


Dear God, thank You for giving me rest. I pray that You will warn me of temptations that I know will come, and please give me the strength to avoid them. In Jesus’ name, Amen.