WILL IT NOT DISPLEASE THE LORD?

Dearly Beloved, WILL IT NOT DISPLEASE THE LORD? “And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27 NKJV). King David, a man after God’s own heart, did something that displeased the Lord! He ought to be at the warfront, but he chose to be at home enjoying himself. In his leisure walk on the wall, he saw a beautiful woman bathing. He summoned the woman and satisfied his lustful passion with her. The action resulted in pregnancy, and to cover it up, he schemed the death of the husband of the woman after all efforts to impose the pregnancy on him (the husband) were unsuccessful. He later added the woman to the fleet of wives in his palace (see 2 Samuel 11). As the king, David had authority over everything and everyone in his domain. So, ordinarily, he has not done anything uncommon with powerful kings. However, the action displeased God. A literal translation of the word “displeasure” here is “evil in the eyes of”. Remember, God and Samuel had forewarned the people of Israel about this (see Deuteronomy 17:17; 1 Samuel 8:10-8). There are some actions nowadays that have been considered normal. They are acceptable to the society. They are actions in vogue. Nonetheless, in the real sense, they are displeasing to God. Some of such actions are now referred to as “professional sins”. Generally, there is nothing wrong with them since they are associated with particular professions and/or positions. People may even encourage one to engage in such actions to boost one’s profession and/or position. Anyone who is not ready to be indulged in such actions is considered as “old school” or outdated. Nevertheless, most of such actions displease the Lord. Daniel and his three other Hebrew colleagues knew this secret when they decided not to defile themselves with the royal food and wine in the palace of the pagan king of Babylon (see Daniel 1:3-16). Ordinarily, there was nothing wrong with the royal food and wine. After all, that was what other young men in king’s service were eating, and the special royal food and wine were to make the young men healthier and better nourished. However, the question that might likely be ringing in the minds of the four Hebrew young men was: “Would eating such food and drinking such wine that have been offered to idols before being served to them not displease the Lord?” What are the common and acceptable actions that people are doing nowadays that may be displeasing to God? Have you taken note of such actions? Anyone who wants to be in vogue with the actions of the world will fall into displeasure of God. “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4 NKJV). Before indulging yourself in any action, first ask yourself: will it not displease the Lord? In His service, Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor). Prayer Point: Pray that you will not indulge yourself in any action that will displease God.