The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 13 August 2025: Don’t Gift The Devil A Foothold
Click HERE to Read Previous MESSAGES
TOPIC: Don’t Gift The Devil A Foothold
READ: 2 Samuel 11:1-13 (NKJV)
- 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.”
- Then David sent to Joab, [saying,] “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.
- When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered.
- And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift [of food] from the king followed him.
- But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
- So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
- And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? [As] you live, and [as] your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
- Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
- Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
THE MESSAGE:
A foothold appears very insignificant, but not to the devil. Once he lays hold on an opportunity, he develops it to his advantage, and aims to destroy the soul involved. Verse 1 of our text tells us that at the time Kings go to war, David was home resting, and walking about on the roof of his house. From there, he saw a beautiful woman who was cleaning up herself.
He immediately enquired who she was, and found out she was a wife to one of his soldiers, Uriah, the Hittite.
It can be said that Uriah got close to the God of Israel through his contact with David (1 Samuel 22:2). Yet, the lust of the flesh and eyes couldn’t stop David from going ahead with the evil that had been deposited in his heart that moment. Had David gone to war as he always did, he may have been saved from the danger that followed this narrative. Had he also ignored the nudging of the devil to commit immorality with the woman, his life may have ended in a better way. Whatever opportunity given to the devil by us will hurt us terribly. May God fill us with strength to resist the devil in totality!
PRAYER: O God, help me not to accommodate the devil at all in Jesus’ name, Amen!
