2 Samuel 11:2 English Standard Version (ESV) It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

A cooperating witness for law enforcement has been caught doing something wrong. He has information which could lead to the capture of other offenders. In exchange for his testimony he receives a get out of jail free card, a pardon for his offenses. Does that sound familiar? Haven’t we all become cooperating witnesses?

Allow me as a cooperating witness to place myself into 2 Samuel 11:2 and give my witness to related offenses.

2 Samuel 11:2 Witness Statement Version (WSV) I couldn’t sleep. I was troubled over current events and I just couldn’t get back to sleep. I got up and went to my facebook page only to discover a beautiful younger woman had sent me a friend request.

I relate to David’s experience in modern terms and recognize the source of the problem and what led to temptation. It does not matter what David was thinking, what his troubled mind might have been thinking, it was only an example to me. I see how David went wrong from this point and I see how sin grabbed the opportunity and I see the results.

Now it is up to me to relate to that sequence of events and choose how to respond to the temptation before me. Accepting the invitation would be the same as David’s inquiring about Bathsheba.  I could find out about this younger beautiful woman by accepting the request. I could also deny the invitation and seek help for my troubled mind.

This is only one small example of how we can relate to the actions of others in the bible and use their mistakes to avoid temptation. I receive many spam e-mails every day with “urgent” requests and mail marked “reply” indicating that I had already been in contact with this person.

They go to my spam filter rather than my in box because I have already rejected those temptations.