2 Samuel 11:2 – 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. (NLT)

Baths may clean you up, but sometimes, they get you into trouble.

Resting outside the bathtub in our spare bathroom is a plastic container with numerous bath toys: a rubber duck, a sailing boat, several balls, a bar of Ivory® soap — the normal toys that kids play with when they bathe. Our grandboys love to play with them when they take a bath. They love the bubbles that MeMe puts in the tub. They submerge the toys under the bubbles, and then hold them in the air and watch as the water squirts out, while laughing and hollering. Occasionally, they splash the water on the floor, which brings a sharp rebuke from MeMe.

King David knew a little about bathing and getting into trouble. He wasn't the one bathing — Bathsheba was — but he was the one who looked when he shouldn't have. The play on words is interesting: Bathsheba bathing. Some suggest that she bathed there on purpose because she knew the king's practice of walking on his roof. Whether or not she intentionally provided the temptation, David fell into the traps of lust, adultery, murder, and lying. One year — and several consequences — passed before he finally confessed.

My world is filled with play toys — not that I bathe with but that I encounter daily: technological gadgets, possessions of all sorts, hobbies (and the things that I need to enjoy them), sporting activities (and the money that I can spend watching them), movies, video games. The list of play toys available to those who live in developed countries is endless.

Some of the play toys are sinful, and others have the potential to be. Bathsheba's bathing wasn't a sin, but if she did it hoping that the king would do what he did, then it became sinful. David's accidental glance wasn't a sin, but when he lusted and acted, it became one. Satan is a master at wrapping innocent things in sinful paper.

Only God can give me the wisdom to play with the right toys and to keep them in the proper perspective. I can't trust my own judgment. It's skewed by my sinful nature and my propensity to gratify my selfish desires.

God may not ask you to throw your toys away; He may simply want you to see them with different eyes or to use them in a more productive way.

Prayer: Father, guide us in the use of our toys so that they won't divert our attention from You and more important things. Amen.

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Martin Wiles <mandmwiles@gmail.com>
Greenwood, South Carolina, USA
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