June 22, 2026

In 2 Samuel 11, if you look for where David initial went wrong, you don't need to read past the first verse: "David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem."

David sent his friends away, he stayed behind and separated himself from those who could have been his influences to him. Additionally, he did not participate in the work where everyone else labored. We go to church each week to take the sacrament and worship, but we are also there to be uplifted by each other, surrounding ourselves with our siblings who are striving to follow the Savior. There is immense power in being a part of the busy of Christ. Alone and idle, David put himself in a place where temptation is amplified.

He found himself lusting and coveting, then adulterating, and finally committing murder to cover up his previous indiscretions. As a frog in a pot, the water started off fairly lukewarm - not anxiously engaged in a good work. The temperature rose one degree at a time until it was too late.

David's story is a frightening one. If someone as noble as he could fall so far, what does that mean for us? However, we are commanded to hear not. David's story is a warning that comes with patterns to help us understand when we are on the wrong path, that we might notice the slowly increasing temperature and leave the pot, turning to God to help us repent and change. The true message is to turn to God - He will help us if we want to give our sins to Him. Never think, "I've already done this much, might as well keep going", or "I can't be saved at this point, so why try". Because it can worse, but if we turn our hearts to our Savior it WILL get better.

Uriah means Jehovah is my light. David, after traversing the path of sin, as we all do in some way or another, had to make a choice - the same choice we all must make time and time again as we endure to the end. The choice is between sending our sins to their grave, or sending the hope the light of Jehovah to his grave. Do we choose to change? Or do we choose to kick against the pricks and double down by turning away from that light of our Savior which is present to redeem us? The choice is ours. It isn't easy, but it's given to us through great sacrifice (first, a third of Heavenly Father's children and secondly the payment of the infinite sum of sorrows by our Redeemer). If we keep choosing to get back up and turn from sin to Christ, He will help us change into something more beautiful than we could ever imagine.

"Where the impulse to do wrong appears, act against that impulse while the impulse is still weak and while the will is still strong. Dalliance merely means that the will weakens and the impulse grows stronger. There is a Parkinson’s law of temptation: Temptation expands so as to fill the time and space available to it. Keep “anxiously engaged” (D&C 58:27) in doing good things." - Elder Maxwell