Defender of Hearts
The life of David has got to be one of the most exciting biographies in the Bible. I love to read about the shepherd boy bringing down the giant or the king and his mighty men annihilating the enemies of God. Sometimes I am tempted to get up and dance right alongside David as I read about him bringing the ark back to Jerusalem and the presence of God back to the people of God. His life is marked by victories all in the name of the Lord. And then I smack into 2 Samuel 11. What a speed bump in the middle of David's unbelievable life. His adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the sin that follows feels so out of place for "a man after God's own heart." Sometimes I feel like skipping chapter 11... but you can't. Sometimes examining the defeats in the Bible are just as valuable as watching the victories.

David's fall begins in verse 1 of chapter 11 and it would be good for us to feel a holy fear when reading this verse. "In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at home." David stayed at home. In the time when kings go to battle, David stayed at home.  When the men were out fighting and defending their lands, David checked out. He was tired.  He let his defenses down. And it nearly destroyed him. His downfall didn't begin when he summoned Bathsheba into his bed chambers. It didn't even begin when David became a peeping tom. It began when David left the fight.

According to the prophet Jeremiah, God has plans for you. Well you can bet that if God has plans for you, so does Satan. He wants to destroy the purity of your heart and the hearts of your family. He comes as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).  Jeremiah was appointed as a prophet to the nations to destroy and to overthrow and to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10).

As parents we all want to build up sons and daughters who love the Lord the same way David did, so we plant God's word into their hearts.  But don't forget to be an 'over thrower' for your kids as well. Satan is trying to get into your homes and into your hearts by any means necessary. We must position ourselves outside the house, sword in hand, saying "not in here! You are not getting in this place." Yet Satan is creeping in through the internet, through swim suit magazines, and through technology and so many parents are blind to this. As a youth minister I spend a lot of my day picking up the broken hearts of young boys who are addicted to pornography that could have been saved had the parents not put a computer in their room. iPhones with internet access are playboys in your kid's pockets. I spent time yesterday with an 11 year old that looks at pornography everyday on his hand held play station. 

This is a battle that Satan is winning...but I refuse to let him win it in my home.  I am not leaving the battle. I cannot. Will you join me? Will you be a defender of hearts? Attack sin in your own life.  Then stand in front of your kids as the fiery darts come after them. Buy web blocks. Cancel subscriptions, quit cable, and smash the computer if that is what it takes to protect your kid's hearts. Jesus says in the book of Matthew that "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God."  I pray that your family's vision of God would be crystal clear and that it would begin with you entering the battlefield.