Scott Tibbs
blog post
May 3rd, 2005

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More lessons from the puppy

Our puppy, Nano, is almost a year old. (We got him on August 2nd of last year.) At this point, we were hoping that we could let him have the run of the house while we are gone. Unfortunately, he has a desire to destroy things, so he has to remain in his kennel while we are not there to supervise him. We have to remove the temptation to "sin" so he won't tear up our things.

This brings to mind two examples from God's Word. In II Samuel 11, we read of how King David committed adultery with his friend Uriah's wife. He then compounded his sin of adultery by murdering Uriah to cover up his adultery.

What led David into sin was that he "tarried still at Jerusalem" instead of going with his troops and then watched Bathsheba as she bathed. He put himself into a place of temptation and committed a terribly heinous sin. What is striking about this is that the Bible often describes David as a man after God's own heart.

Compare and contrast this with the story of Joseph. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, and found himself in Egypt. Even here, Joseph was regarded well and served a man named Potiphar. When Potiphar's wife grabbed and attempted to seduce Joseph, he ran away from her. King David did not remove himself from temptation and suffered because if it. Joseph fled temptation and, while he suffered for a while, became the most important man in the region by helping Egypt through a famine.

Having a strong foundation in God's Word helps us resist the temptation to sin when it confronts us, but we must not be foolish. We all have a sin nature, and even the most faithful Christian can fall into sin given the right circumstances. This is why we need to be on our guard and not knowingly put ourselves at risk. Most people would never consider driving 75 miles per hour on a winding, narrow country road, even if he or she is an expert driver. We need to have the same attitude toward sin.