Ask God

We’re finally to the part of the story where David is king over all Israel.  He is a man after God’s own heart.  This is made clear by his approach to major decisions.  He talks to God in prayer, listens to God’s direction, and does what God says to do.  Even when David slips up with the Ark of the Covenant, he immediately turns back to God and ends up moving the Ark back into the center of the Israelite nation.  David walks with God because David starts by asking God.

In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 11:1 NLT)

This next story, however is strangely silent about David’s conversations with God.  In fact, there is no record whatsoever that David asked God anything before he acted.  Kings normally go to war, but David stayed home and took a nap.  David didn’t ask God and now he finds himself in a place God probably wouldn’t have had him.

Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. (2 Samuel 11:2 NLT)

Not only is David strangely silent, he clearly has more than one significant decision to make.  None of them are brought to God.  In fact, when we look at David’s past decisions about marriage we find that he is strangely silent then, too.  At the moment that David sees Bathsheba taking a bath, he was already married and/or sleeping with seven different women.

…Saul's daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted... (1 Samuel 18:20 NLT) David married Abigail and Ahinoam around the same time. (1 Samuel 25:39b, 25:43) He had children by Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Eglah (2 Samuel 3:3b-5a)  When David makes decisions about who he sleeps with, he doesn’t seem interested in what God has to say.  In fact, had David asked God he would not be married to seven women…and he certainly would not pursue yet another one this day.

He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite." (2 Samuel 11:3 NLT)

How about you?  Do you have areas of your life that you simply are not interested in what God has to say?  Do you avoid conversations with God in those areas?  Do you avoid it because, deep down, you know what God is going to say?  Do you ask God?