Directed Passion--Part 3

We left off at a hard place in the last Passion Post. I didn't want to stop there. But sometimes we must stop in the dark, hard places to allow our eyes to acclimate.

What happened? What happened to the Shepherd-Poet turned King? His passion was his defining attribute.

David misplaced, mistimed, and misdirected his passion.

Passion misplaced.
The recipient of David’s passion could not sustain or maintain the intensity of the connection. Bathsheba’s whole world collapsed under the weight of David’s passion.

The people in our lives cannot sustain this kind of passion. For a season they may bear up under its weight, but eventually they will collapse. And this will leave us disillusioned and crush them. Only God can sustain the intensity. Only he can maintain the connection.

Passion mistimed.
Passion cannot remain idle for long.

Israel was involved in a tumultuous and ugly season of war. David’s choice to remain behind and uninvolved in the movement of his army put him in a place of temptation. Boredom and restlessness led him to take a walk on the palace roof when he should have been on the front lines with his army. Bathsheba became the receptacle for David’s distracted and diverted passion.

Passion misdirected.
David’s excess energy (a by-product of such incredible passion) was directed toward someone who did not have the means or the ability to absorb or diffuse it.

Like a bird of prey, David stood on his roof. With keen vision he saw Bathsheba. Instead of looking away, he fixed his eyes on her and swooped, snaring her in his talons. (In this post we are only discussing David’s passion and choices. Bathsheba is another post for another time). Bathsheba could not diffuse David’s passion. She could not shield herself from its heat or its destruction. It absorbed her.

And beautiful, handsome King David weaves a deceptive and convoluted web. He does not see the consequences which loom on the horizon.

A dark shadow falls over the house of David.