THAT IS WAY TOO MUCH COFFEE

A friend of mine was once told by an older Christian, “Do not be surprised at what the Lord shows you about yourself.” This is timeless wisdom for everyone because as Christians, we have been delivered from the power of sin, but not the presence of sin.

When I was a boy, my Dad used to plant a certain field in corn. One of the constant battles we fought was with coffee weeds and morning glories. They were always begging for an inch and taking a stalk.

Eventually we stopped planting this field and pine trees took over; the growth was so dense that it choked out everything, including the weeds. For over twenty years nothing but trees grew in what was once our garden, but within weeks of the field being clear cut, guess what made an appearance? The old nemesis coffee weeds. They had lay dormant for years, but once an opportunity presented itself, they sprang to life.

When you read about King David’s sin with Bathsheba, do you ever wonder about where the temptation came from? “And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her” (2 Samuel 11:4). This happened at a time “kings go to war.” David should have been fighting against the Philistines—instead he was fighting against his lust.

This was not David’s first battle with this area of his life. Concerning the King, the word states clearly: “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away” (Deuteronomy 17:17). David did this in spite of what the word said: He had seven wives and ten concubines: That’s way too much coffee—that much caffeine will mess with your mind! According to the scripture, by the time David sinned with Bathsheba; his heart had already been turned away.

Let’s follow this lust, upstream and see what we find. We know that David was from the tribe of Judah, so Judah was David’s grandfather. In Genesis 38:15-18, we read that Judah lay with what he thought was a prostitute and the implication was this wasn’t the first time: “When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot… and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.”

Now I know that this type of action was somewhat part of their culture, but it still doesn’t make it right: “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). What Judah did so carelessly, David struggled with mightily: “For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Psalms 38:4). (What David struggled with was an absolute flood in Solomon’s life.)

The roots of sin run deep, but do not fear: the Blood of Jesus runs deeper and uproots all sin. Do not deny the existence of “coffee weed” in your life. Do not embrace it: It is no longer who you are. Leave the old clothes in the closet and put on the new: “Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him” ( Colossians 3:9-10).