Our besetting sin?

"Leaving behind the sin that so easily besets us" (Hebrews 12:1)

Do you have a sin that so easily besets you? A sin that you fall into time and time again? Is it time to lay down that weight and hindrance in your walk with God?

King David had such a besetting sin. That sin was lust. In 2nd Samuel 11 and 12, we are told about an incident in David's life when he caved in to the sin of lust. It is the story of David's adultery with Bathsheba, and the sins committed in attempting to cover it up, deception, betrayal, murder.

Many of us have a problem with lust. Here are some startling statistics about pornography:

• 25% of search engine requests are related to sex
• 35% of downloads from the internet are pornographic
• 40 million Americans say they regularly visit porn sites
• 70% of men aged 18 to 24 visit a porn site at least once per month
• The largest consumer group of online porn is men between the ages of 35 and 49
• One-third of all internet porn users are women
• Sunday is the most popular day of the week for viewing porn (https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/process-addiction/porn-addiction/related/pornography-statistics/#gref)
• 55% of married men say they watch porn at least once a month, compared to 70% of not married men. 
• The following percentages of men say they view pornography at least several times a week:
• 18-30-year-olds, 63%
• 31-49-year-olds, 38%
• 50-68-year-olds, 25% (http://www.provenmen.org/2014pornsurvey/)

David's incident with Bathsheba was not isolated. It was the culmination of years of sexual self-gratification. David's first wife was Michal. Then he married Abigail, then Ahinoam. Then followed Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah (2 Samuel 3:2-5). This was while David still lived in Hebron, during his first seven and a half years as king over Judah (2 Samuel 2:11). He took even more women as wives and concubines when he reigned from Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:13). David was never satisfied sexually. David had a problem with lust.

Gods intention for us is that a man would have only one wife, to whom we would cleave and have a faithful close relationship, until death do us part (Genesis 2:24, Malachi 2:14-16, Matthew 19:5, Ephesians 5:31-33, 1 Timothy 3:2, 12, 1 Timothy 5:9, Titus 1:6).  When we disregard this, like David did, it has repercussions.  

This is why it is so important that we confess our sin, and repent to God for having broken God's marriage laws, and damaged our relationships till it has become the norm to divorce and remarry.  This is not God's way. His way is the way of repentance and reconciliation, not abandonment.

"Lord, please forgive us for being unfaithful to the wife of our youth, and for having indulged in sexual addiction.  Please forgive us and cleanse our minds and hearts. In Jesus name. Amen."