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King David was a great warrior, but success went to his head. God helped him conquer land from Egypt to Mesopotamia. His next goal was to build a Temple to the LORD. But God said no, I want your son to do that. So with no more projects in sight, he became bored. He let Joab lead his army in battle while he stayed home. In his boredom, he went to the roof. There David spied Bathsheba, lusted for her, and committed adultery and murdered her husband. Despite past successes, in that moment, David forgot God. He starts down a slippery slope that ended in disaster. God forgave him but his family was in shambles, his life miserable. Much of the evil in our world today comes from our ignoring God as the source of our life and blessings. When we fail to worship and give God thanks, we start to make foolish mistakes that lead to heartache. In Romans 1, Paul describes the downward slide. He writes: “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God to even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.” Ingratitude leads us to feel self-sufficient, which leads to ignoring God, which leads to tolerating evil, which leads to wicked behavior. We reverse this slippery slide when we are truly grateful to God.
