Sin Makes You Stupid

David sinned with Bathsheba and that led to more sin as he tried to cover it up. He tried his best to get Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to do wrong in the process. Uriah didn’t. So David convinced himself the solution was to have the noble warrior killed by the hands of the Ammonites. His actions made him an adulterer, a liar, a despicable leader and a murder. But it also made him stupid.

You see in order to make the death of Uriah happen; he had to enlist the help of his commander Joab. Joab wasn’t the type to not take advantage of the situation. So when Joab made an error in battle by letting the men get too close to the wall, he used the information of Uriah’s death to distract David from criticism.

“and if it happens that the king's wrath rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 'Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?'--then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'"

2^nd Samuel 11:20-21

David should have been critical. History had shown this was a dangerous maneuver. Joab should have been reprimanded. But David wasn’t thinking about his duty, he was thinking about his sin. Since it got him what we wanted David didn’t much care that his commander had lost good men, weakened his army and endangered kingdom.

Sin does that to everyone. We’ve seen it for years when smart people do very dumb things in pursuit of or in the cover up of sin. Politicians, CEOs, stars athletes who should know better ruin it all by their vices. Ordinary people do it as well. Sin is a toxic substance that corrupts pollutes and dulls everything it touches.

Sin is a dark veil that clouds your judgment. Don’t get hoodwinked by it!

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