Is turning your heart away from the wife you have been given by God a sin, when she has embarrassed you, harangued you or perhaps made fun of your worship dance?  I have been contemplating David, and as many I am often amazed as his relationship and willingness to follow the directions of Almighty God.  However, I see many of my Brothers and Sisters pay special concentration or conversation regarding his adultery, typically associated with David’s unfaithful, cleaver and murder some behavior with another man’s wife.  However, I never hear anyone, even pastors discuss the fact that David never slept  with his wife after refusing to forgive her for obviously disrespectful behavior.  This, seems to be the root cause of David’s calamity, leading to God’s judgment upon his family for generations.  This unforgiveness of his spouse created an environment which led to a precarious heart, unfocused on loving his wife, he became relatively easy prey to sexual temptation and transgression.  It troubles me that we do not spend time concentrating on the actual cause of David’s tragedy instead choosing to look to the moment of sin itself, without considering the thinking environment which led to an episode.

We must always pay attention to the first step we take away from the path of righteousness.  Often that step does not include physical action but as Jesus clearly stated it is the thought that must be captured before it becomes action.  We must learn to forgive so that we do not place ourselves in danger of unconscious or deceptive action.  Perhaps if David had forgiven his wife and learned to love her as Christ loves the church then his eyes would never have had cause to wander.  It is not David, or even myself I wish to judge but rather I wish to learn from scripture, reviewing, contemplating and praying about all the characters, not just when they did heroic things, but when they weren’t on guard.  For this is where vigilance pays the greatest benefit, this is when most men fall, when they have let down their guard.

God will never leave us or forsake us no matter what.  Isn’t this the behavior we were meant to emulate, especially with our spouses?  I am sorry and saddened by the mistakes I hear couples create, but that does not necessarily lead us to the conclusion that we have the right to remain unforgiving in opposition to God’s will and scripture.  It is through forgiveness and thankfulness for the blessings we have been given that we remain connected to Almighty God.  Without forgiveness we cannot be truly thankful, without forgiveness in our own hearts we cannot expect God to grace us with forgiveness.  Our spouses all mess up, because they are humans.  We must grow in Christ and learn to forgive even our enemies and if we are expected to forgive our enemies, we must then take it with accord that we have first forgiven our own families, friends and other believers.  Do not take that first step off the path following Christ.  Capture the thought before it becomes action.

Praise You Lord Jesus for all that I can see and that which remains hidden to our eyes.  They are all blessings indeed.