Letting Things Slide

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. And Joab struck down Rabbah and overthrew it. 1 Chronicles 19:20

For the first time in years, I’m missing out on our worldwide yearly competition cycle at the gym. I’d like to say it’s because of my back injury in October, but I’m 90% recovered from that. The truth is, I used the back injury as an excuse to let things slide over the last few months. I’ve eaten too much and skipped the gym too many mornings. As a result, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m fat, slow, and out of shape. I know I can’t go full throttle all the time, but I’ve spent far too much time idling in neutral, which means regression. If I’m not working at growing or maintaining my physical fitness, then my fitness is in decline.

The same is true in my spiritual life. If I’m not actively pursuing God’s will every day, then I just naturally drift back towards serving myself. Following God’s will is not my default setting and so, if I don’t purposefully point my life at him every day, I revert to following my way.

Letting things slide starts small but tends to grow. That’s the lesson of today’s passage, which tells of the beginning of King David’s slide into sinful behavior. David’s life was remarkable in that he relentlessly pursued God’s will, which led him from being a lowly sheepherder all the way to the throne of Israel. In today’s passage however, we see that he sat back, remaining in the comfort of his palace, when he should have gone out to war with his army. It wasn’t a huge moral failure. It was just a little much-earned respite. Or at least that’s what he told himself. We know however, that resting on his laurels is what led to his adulterous and murderous affair with Bathsheeba. David didn’t start out planning to defy God. He just let the little things slide and then nature took its course.

Daily, I know that I must get up early and point my life at God. Daily, I must look at my failures of yesterday and correct them, even if they’re little failures. Letting the little failures slide means I’m turning from the path I want for my life. One little failure leads to another, and soon, I’m fat and out of shape. It’s not easy, but the only way back is to get back to the discipline of daily pointing my life in the direction I want it to go, refusing to let the little things slide.