Fulfillment in God

2 Samuel 11:1-5 (NLT)
1 In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. 3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. 5 Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”

These verses describe the events that led to King David’s affair with Bathsheba who was married to Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was out fighting a war, which is where David should have been. Instead David purposely stayed behind and fell into the consequences of his actions.


Veggie tales is a kid’s cartoon which teaches important life lessons. In Veggie Tales’ “King George and the Duck,” an adaptation of the story of David and Bathsheba, Larry the Cucumber stars as King George and Bob the Tomato is his faithful servant, Lewis. The privileges of royalty—kingdom expansion, castles, power, and treasures—do not appeal to King George. But King George loves to bathe with his rubber duck. Splishing and splashing, he sings an ode to his rubber duck called—what else? “I Love My Duck.”
One day while standing on the royal balcony in his purple robe and golden crown, King George peers through binoculars, and his eyes grow wide with desire. He spies something wonderful—a rubber duck. But it belongs to Billy, who happens to be bathing with his rubber duck on his own balcony. Billy’s rubber duck looks exactly like King George’s rubber duck. Nonetheless, the King covets it, exclaiming, “I want it.” Lewis reminds the King that he already has a duck and that the other duck belongs to someone else. “Are you saying I shouldn’t have whatever I want?” asks the King. Lewis opens a large wardrobe overflowing with hundreds of identical rubber ducks and says, “If I could just jog your memory, you already have quite a few ducks.” King George’s rationale is simple. He shoots a condescending look at his unlearned servant and replies, “Those are yesterday’s ducks.” [King George and the Duck (Big Ideas, 2000), not rated, written by Jennifer Combs, directed by Mike Nawrocki]

When we seek to find fulfillment apart from God we fall into the trap of never finding satisfaction in the things we desire. We think it’s what we want, but the desire vanishes and we find ourselves seeking something new, something different that still won’t provide the fulfillment in our lives. The Tenth Commandment says, “Thou shall not covet.” Exodus 20:17 spells it out for us, “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” Jesus said in Luke 12:15: "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses." The abundance of life exists in God and nowhere else.