As a Christian man, you fight a daily battle with your eyes. Like other men, you are tempted sexually primarily by what you see, and these days, you see a lot. You and I live in a hyper-sexualized culture where provocative images are everywhere. Billboards, TV commercials, magazines, websites, retail storefront displays, social media, beaches, smartphone apps, sidewalks, books, fitness centers, movie streaming services, workplaces, college campuses, public transit, swimming pools, church pews, and hundreds of other places tempt you to lust after women with your eyes.
If you want to gain victory over lustful looks, if you want to avoid the predictable chain of events that starts with an innocent look but ends with sexual sin (masturbating to porn, for example), learn a lesson from David, the King of Israel. Review what happened to him, and then act accordingly. Here’s how the event is recorded in The Second Book of Samuel, chapter 11.
It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
2 Samuel 11:1-5
Every preacher I have ever heard speak on this passage says David’s sin started because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. It was spring, the time when kings go out to battle, Israel was at war, but David remained at Jerusalem. Or they make Bathsheba an accessory to his crime, saying she shouldn’t have been bathing in public where David would see her and lust after her. But David didn’t sin because he and Bathsheba were both in the wrong place. David sinned because he took the second look.
Notice the sequence of events. First, David sees a woman bathing. Then, he continues looking long enough to discern that she is very beautiful. Then, instead of looking away and preventing himself from committing adultery, he sends servants to “inquire about the woman.” David sinned not because of where he was, or because he caught a glimpse of a beautiful woman bathing, but because he inquired about her.
Are you like David? When you are online and minding your own business (watching the news or reading a social media post, for example), and a sexy woman catches your eye, do you swipe away? Or do you boot up Google and do an image search on the woman’s name, hoping to find dozens of pictures of her in a bikini, or even less? David had to send servants. All you have to do is fire up the search engine in your pocket. Google on your mobile phone is faster, easier and more private than David’s search method. But just as deadly.
You and David share the same challenge. Lust starts with the second look, not the first. You can’t avoid seeing images of seductive women. They are outside your home, at your work, on your vacation, on your daily commute, inside your home, and everywhere in between. But, like David, you have control over what you do after that first look. David’s temptation could have started and ended right there on his rooftop. All he had to do was turn around and walk downstairs.
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