Solomon is considered by many to be the second greatest king of all Israel. The greatest was his father, David, and yet, they both had problems with their eyes. Was it astigmatism? No. Was it nearsightedness? No. Was it blindness? No. No, both Solomon and David had very good vision, however, their eye problems were based on where they placed their eyes. They could see just fine, but it was where they looked that got them into trouble and sin. The same happens today with Christians – many of us see just fine, some of us wear eyeglasses or contact lenses to help our vision – but we fall into sin because of where we place our eyes. And actually, “fall into sin” is an incorrect statement, we do not actually fall into sin, we step into sin and sometimes we rush headlong into sin. In other words, when we sin, we make that choice to sin, for it a conscious decision to sin. We cannot blame our sins on the devil, we cannot say “I am only human, therefore I must sin”, and we cannot declare that somebody else made us sin. No, we must be willing to take responsibility for our sins, because that is the first step for repentance and forgiveness. And often our sins begins when we first place our eyes on things that we should not be looking at.
(2 Samuel 11:1-4) And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
David had a couple problems here: first, he was not where he should have been; and second, he looked where he knew he should not be looking. 2 Samuel 11:1 states that this was “the time when kings go to war” and yet, he tarried in Jerusalem. David may have decided that he deserved a vacation and he let his guard down rather than be busy for the Lord. His second problem arose when he went out to his roof top – he should not have been there at that time and even more importantly, he knew that he should not have been there. It was the custom at that time that women would bathe themselves at that time of the evening, and the men were not suppose to be out at that time of the evening. David, as king, would have known this and he ignored this fact and went out to the roof. And that is where his sin started – when he decided to go where he should not have been. Sin does not become a sin when the action is over, sin becomes a sin when the first step toward it is taken. That first step does not even have to be a physical action, the sin can happen when we think about committing the sin. As Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:27, 28:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
We see a three fold cycle here in David’s actions: 1) Seeing; 2) Coveting; 3) Taking.
David looked where he should not have been looking – for he was looking at Bath-sheba – and after he did that, he coveted – he wanted – and then David took Bath-sheba. But again, David’s sin did not begin when he took Bath-sheba, his sin began when he went out onto that rooftop and looked.
Solomon stepped into a similar problem, he was not careful where he looked and jumped right into sin and away from God. The Book of Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s description of his quest to find happiness and as you read the Book of Ecclesiastes, you see that Solomon looked everywhere but to God for fulfillment.
(Ecclesiastes 1:8-9) All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Be very careful where your eyes go. The look is the first step.