I want to start today with a story entitled “Kierkegaard's Complacent Duck.”
According to his parable, one spring, a duck was flying north with a flock. In the Danish countryside that particular duck spotted a barnyard where tame ducks lived. The duck dropped down and he discovered these ducks had wonderful corn to eat. So he stayed for an hour....then for the day....a week then went by and a month. And because the corn and the safe barnyard were so fine, our duck ended up staying the whole summer at that farm. Then one crisp fall day, some wild ducks flew overhead, quacking as they winged their way south. He looked up and heard them -- and he was stirred with a strange sense of joy and delight. And then, with all his might he began flapping his wings and rose into the air, planning to join his comrades for the trip south.
But all that corn had made the duck both soft and heavy -- and he couldn't manage to fly any higher than the barn roof. So he dropped back to that barnyard and he said to himself, "Oh well, my life here is safe and the food is good!" After that in the Spring and in the Fall, that duck would hear wild ducks honking as they passed overhead -- and for a minute, his eyes would look and gleam -- he'd start flapping his wings almost without realizing it...but then a day came, when those others would pass overhead uttering their cry -- and the now tame duck would not pay the slightest attention.
As I read this fable I pondered whether the duck was content or complacent. Complacent means “to be pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; to be self-satisfied.”
While contentment means “to be satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.”
So it would seem the duck in the story had become complacent. The food was good. He felt his life was safe. He knew that he did not belong in a barnyard but it got easier each year to resist the call of the wild. He was truly self-satisfied. It did not seem to occur to him that the hand which fed him perhaps one day would butcher him for a meal.
The wild ducks were content. They migrated from the north to the south as they were designed to do. They would always find food, water, and a place to rest. There was a joy and delight that they shared with each other. They were satisfied with who they were and with what they had. And they desired nothing more.
So what does this have to do with David? Today we are going to discover what happens in a man’s heart when contentment becomes complacent.
Remember all that we have learned about David. At the age of 15 he was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. The reason wasn’t his looks or his stature but it was is heart. God saw a young man that had a heart for God. He saw a young man whose inner being was centered on pleasing God. It would be that heart for God that would give him the motivation, ability, and attitude to slay the giant Goliath.
He would spend the next 22 years of his life first serving Saul than fleeing from Saul. At the end of these 22 years David would finally descend the throne and become the King of a united Israel.
Then once again we see David’s heart for God shine forth when he sends for the last descendant of Saul. That would be Mephibosheth and his son. While it was customary for a conquering king to kill all of the relatives of the conquered king, this was not David’s intent. He wanted to return to Mepibosheth the inheritance of his father Jonathan because David had taken an oath to do so.
As David begins to enter his forties, he has become content. The nation is united. Wars have slowed down. But David had a side to him that is very seldom discussed.
One of the reasons that he seemed so contented was the number of wives and concubines that he had. While this was a common practice David seemed to take it to a new level. He was married to eight wives and had ten concubines as well. The reason he made them concubines is if a pregnancy does occur, they were covered by a marriage contract. This introduced the concept of marriage as a pleasure contract not necessarily for procreation. David felt something for these ladies though, as after they are defiled by Absolom, he makes sure they are taken care of for the rest of their lives but he never touches them again. In addition there are other wives and concubines hinted at but unnamed.
Michal was David’s first wife; she was the daughter of Saul and was given to David because he slew Goliath. She helped David escape from her father.
While in Hebron, on the run and ruling over Judah, David married six women: Ahinoam, Abigail, Maachah, Haggith, Abital and Eglah. Abigail was the most noteworthy as she saved her former husband from death only to have him die from the hand of God so she was free to marry David. Each of these women provided David with a son: Absolom and Amnon notable names among them. After they got to Jerusalem, he gets other sons and daughters through them as well.
Remember it was common practice among kings to take the wives of other kings they had conquered. David did this, but it may have been that he just assumed responsibility for them because of Jonathan.
The sad thing about all these wives is that David never seemed to have a one flesh/covenant type relationship with one of them exclusively. It seemed that way briefly with Michal and Abigail but no one keeps David’s full attention. When it came to his wives and concubines, David seemed to be content with contract relationships for the purpose of creating descendants or pleasure, but he seemed to have no interest in becoming one flesh with a single woman exclusively. David seemed to be a man who simply had a large sexual appetite and had the ability to fulfill it because he was both prosperous and had power. He also had the rational that because he was king, he had to insure he had a son to take throne after his death.
However, David is still a man after God’s own heart. We, as a church society, may not understand how that could be but it’s true. And it’s proven by the blessings that have been poured out on him.
As I said, he is content. He is satisfied with what he has and who he is. There is nothing more or anything else left to desire. That is until he allowed his heart, his inner-being, to become complacent.
2 Samuel 11:1 “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.”
David stayed behind. Normally he would have gone to war with his men but complacency compelled him to stay behind. He felt no need to be with his men. He was pleased with his accomplishments and his comfortable surroundings. Most major battles had been won. This was a skirmish that Joab could handle. He saw no potential for danger by remaining behind. He was self-satisfied.
Several warning flags should have entered his mind. Complacency led him to neglect his duty. He should have been with his men. Instead he allowed someone else to have that burden. His success had made him feel invincible. Pride was allowed to fester and convince him that God was with him in all of his endeavors. When David was hiding in caves from Saul he needed God. Now his own accomplishments had diminished God’s role in achieving them. He allowed his arrogance to listen to the reports of the people about his greatness. He reveled in his celebrity.
This is the progression of David turning from being a man after God’s own heart to being a man after his own heart. Success, pride, and arrogance led to David neglecting his responsibilities. And in doing so he discovered idle time.
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.”
David had woken from a mid-day rest. The roof was probably a shaded patio outside his bedroom, high enough to escape the noises of the city. From there he could look down on Jerusalem since the palace was the tallest building around. On another roof he watched a woman bathing. This was not unusual. Many of the more financially endowed had bathing areas on their roofs. Since all houses would have been at the same level, privacy to bathe would not have been a problem. No one house would have been higher than that of the king. And the late afternoon sun presented a perfect time for a bath.
So as David is looking over his great accomplishments his eyes fall upon a woman who was unusually beautiful. The word meant perfected. There was no blemish about her. She had physical perfection. She was more beautiful than any of David’s many wives and concubines.
David should have been at war. Instead he was idle in his bed and contentment is about to flee him totally. As he watches her, the attractions of his wives and concubines diminish. No longer is he satisfied with the women he has.
Instead his feeling of complacency has been disrupted. He has seen a woman he desires that makes him feel no longer happy with his situation. His desire for her overwhelms him and becomes an obsession. He begins to inquire about the woman on the roof and discovers who she is. Her name is Bathsheba. When he discovered she was the wife of a loyal soldier and the granddaughter of a trusted advisor, he should have stopped in his tracks. This obsession became so strong that David reacted in a way we never would have in the past. His heart begins to turn from God and to turn toward self. So we see what complacency can lead to.
2 Samuel 11:4 “Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home.”
This is the second time David has sent for someone. The first time was with a heart of compassion, a heart for God. He sent for Mephibosheth. This time it is a heart of complacency, a heart for self. He viewed something that he did not possess. He could never be content without possessing her. Nor could he remain complacent because he was no longer self-satisfied.
Soon the consequences of his complacency begin to fall into place. Bathsheba became pregnant. This is a problem since her husband is away in battle. So David has her husband sent home upon the pretense of filling him in on the progress of the battle. He then enticed him to go sleep with his wife. This way it would seem that Bathsheba’s husband was the father of the child. But he refused to do so out of respect for his men who were still in battle.
David’s next plan was even darker. He devised a plan to have her husband killed on the battlefield. Then David took her as yet another wife and felt that he had escaped the shame of his careless ways.
It would seem that David is no longer a man after God’s own heart. However, he was, even though his actions said otherwise. David would write Psalm 51. In this Psalm we see the torment of a man‘s struggle with himself for allowing complacency to over ride his passion for God. David writes in Psalm 51:3 “For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
“Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say,
and your judgment against me is just.”
A person with a heart for God confesses his rebellion. He finds no rest from the guilt of his actions. He hasn’t sinned against Bathsheba even though he may have taken her against her will. He hasn’t sinned against her husband even though he had him killed. He recognizes that those actions were taken because he had become rebellious against God and in that rebellion he sinned against him.
A person with a heart for God will accept the consequences of those actions. Through the prophet Nathan, David heard of the consequences of his actions. Because he used the sword of his enemies to kill Bathsheba’s husband, the sword would never leave his household. Calamity would befall him.
What David did in secret would be done for all to see. His son would rape his own sister. That son would be murdered by David’s other son. Then that same son would be intimate with 10 of David’s concubines in broad daylight on a roof top for all to see.
And finally the child that Bathsheba carried would die. And David’s response was “your judgment against me is just.”
A person with a heart for God will seek restoration.
Psalm 51:8 “Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice. Vs12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.”
A person with a heart for God will seek forgiveness.
Psalm 51:9 “Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Vs 14 forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.”
A person with a heart for God will recognize God’s desire.
Psalm 51:6 “But you desire honesty from the womb,
teaching me wisdom even there. 17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
David messed up. There is no denying that. And the consequences of his actions were the results of his doing. However, God continued to care for and love David.
It would be good for each of us to take some time this week and ponder those you have messed up. Then read Psalm 51 to God as a prayer. Then each of us can rest in Psalm 51: 7 “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow”
