4. The story of David possesses a fascination which is not equalled even by that of St. Paul. This is due in some degree to the Book of Psalms, which furnishes the simplest and most complete devotional exemplar that we possess. It is due, also, no doubt, to the idyllic beauty of the shepherd's earliest story — to the romantic adventures of the patriot — to the absorbing interest which attaches to the events of the whole reign. But men prize and love the story of David for other reasons than these. They find in it the picture of their own struggles in their humbler field. They learn from David's weakness and trans- gressions that he is one with themselves. When he abhors himself in dust and ashes, they are reminded that they, too, have need of purification; but that it should not prevent their returning to the conflict, for God will receive and bless them again. They do not feel the inconsistency which unbelievers point to in David, with the sneering question, " Is this the man after God's own heart ? " They feel rather that were it not for these inconsistencies David would be unlike them, and his story no pattern of theirs. They know that when they yield to God, they do righteous acts and are righteous : that when they yield to self they are unrighteous, and are the servants of an evil power. They know they are inconsistent, but they know God loves them, and their faith is sure. They have tried to balance their state before God, but have ceased from the task sick at heart and unsatisfied. They know that if their life were recorded truly, it would consist of acts unreconciled, unreconcilable, even as David's acts. But God is their helper, and to Him, not to man, do they look for pardon and for justification.
We have to trace the history of a sin. There are three stages —
I. Self-indulgence. II. Self-Deception. Ill, Self-Discovery.
^ A. Ainger.
314 THOU ART THE MAN
I.
Self-Indulgenck
The period which went before the fall was for David one of unbounded outward prosperity. He was rapidly becoming lord paramount of a vast region outside the Promised Land; Moab, Zobah, Damascus, Hamath — all had fallen before his forces. Here already was, of course, temptation. Success indeed was not sin ; nay, we read that " the Lord preserved him." But success was test, and it was allurement too. And surely we see allurement beginning to do its evil work, in that short sentence of xi. 1, "But David tarried still at Jerusalem." A subtle slothfulness was creeping into the life of the hero-king. He was beginning to affect the Sultan rather than the devoted leader of other days. Just then it was that, " in an eveningtide David arose from off his bed," from off the couch of a siesta prolonged far beyond its time, and " walked (not with God) upon the roof." Then did Satan "find mischief for idle eyes" and David fell, steep after steep, into that awful "quag upon the left hand of the road" of life.i
^ When Christian passed through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he found that "on the left hand, there was a very dangerous Quag, into which, if even a good man falls, he finds no bottom for his foot to stand on. Into that Quag King David once did fall, and had no doubt therein been smothered, had not He that is able pluckt him out."
^ In one form or another an ineradicable instinct has prompted Christians in all times to free themselves from luxurious and self-indulgent ways of living; to walk as disciples of Him who had " not where to lay his head " ; to lay aside, not only every sin, but every weight, that so they may run the race set before them, not as beating the air, but as those that strive for the victory.
It is, indeed, not easy to define the precise kind or amount of luxury which is compatible with Christian simplicity ; or rather, it must of necessity vary. But the principle is, I think, clear. In life, as in art, whatever does not help, hinders. All that is superfluous to the main object of life must be cleared away, if that object is to be fully attained. In all kinds of effort, whether moral, intellectual, or physical, the essential condition of vigour is
1 H. C. G. Moule.
2 SAMUEL XII. 7 315
a severe pruning away of redundance. Is it likely that the highest life, the life of the Christian body, can be carried on upon easier terms ? ^
1. David's self-indulgence was simply selfishness in one of its forms. Now, just as unselfishness is the true triumph of life, so selfishness is the degradation of life, and is the secret of its failure. Eeduce sin to its primal elements, and the last result is always selfishness. Begin where you will among those common and well-known sins and defects of habit, whose nature is perfectly ascertainable by sad experience and bitter knowledge, and see if this is not true.
Lo ! from that idol of self another idol is born.
The idol of self is the mother of all idols;
Those are the snakes, but this is the dragon;