So, to show their love and appreciation to the king for all he had done for them, the people decided to have a great celebration to honor his birthday. Everyone agreed it was a marvelous idea. Preparations for the celebration were very elaborate. No expense was spared by the people. They adorned their homes with lights, decorations, and expensive ornaments. There were parties, dinners, and celebrations throughout the kingdom.

All the people brought gifts for their friends and family. Many of the gifts which the people gave each other were quite expensive, involving considerable indebtedness. In fact, the people spent more on the birthday celebration than they spent at any other time of the year.

Many who were not citizens of the kingdom, and who did not even know the king, joined in the celebration. Their celebration of the king’s birth was marked by excessive drinking. Since they did not know the king, they invented a good-natured, fat fellow in a red suit. He laughed a lot, but never said anything. But that didn’t matter because they were too busy celebrating to listen anyhow.

The great day of celebrating his birth finally arrived, and some of his people did come bringing gifts and thanking him for his goodness to them. But to his dismay, most of the citizens never came to his house at all on the day of celebration. And the gifts brought to the king by those few who came were very meager when compared with the gifts they had given themselves.

For the most part the people said they had been so busy with all the celebrations and personal plans that they had forgotten about the king. Several said they had thought of him, but really could not work it into their schedules or budgets to come see him or bring a gift. A few were known to be quite put out when it was suggested that going to the king’s house or remembering him with a gift was important.

Those people who did come to his house and who brought their loving gifts were welcomed and blessed by the king. But when they had gone and he was alone again, the king fell to thinking of the vast numbers of his people who had forgotten and forsaken him. How could they have forgotten? Had he not loved them all? How could so many of his beloved people who had found the time and money for shopping and feasting and partying and decorating and all sorts of celebrations-how could they possibly be so thoughtless, so ungrateful or selfish? Did they not know that he, too, had feelings? Was not the purpose of the birthday celebration originally planned to honor him?

When the king was alone, pondering these questions, he felt the tears well up in his eyes. And in his loneliness, he wept. One thought brought some hope and consolation. Even though they had forgotten him, he had not forgotten them. (anonymous)

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

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.