Defeating Enemies of SuccessSample

The Key to Defeating Entitlement

Let’s be honest; everyone faces temptations—including four-year-old's! One young boy was caught red-handed by his mom standing on a chair eating a forbidden cookie. He explained the situation, “Mom, it’s not my fault. I just climbed up to smell them, and my tooth got caught in a big cookie.”

The truth is—we all face temptations. Yet, as we get older, the stakes become higher if we give in to them. In fact, one of the greatest kings of Israel in the Old Testament—King David—faced temptations and experienced a massive moral failure.

You see, David had a remarkable track record—he united Judah and Israel as one nation, enlarged their national boundaries to 60,000 square miles, and had no defeats on the battlefield. At the end of 2 Samuel 10, David was at an all-time high. The sky was the limit, and there was no end in sight… however, his success left him extremely vulnerable to entitlement.

In 2 Samuel 11:1, we read, It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Wow! Here, we see David stay at home, disengaged from God’s purposes, when he should have been with his men in battle.

One evening, David sees a beautiful woman named Bathsheba, commits adultery with her, and goes to great lengths to cover his sin up—resulting in the death of one of his most loyal followers and his newborn child. Friend, David was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong things—and the consequences were tragic.

David’s sin was great… but God’s mercy was greater! Proverbs 28:13 says, He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Here’s the good news—on the other side of our vulnerability and confession, God will bring healing and redemption. He did so in David’s life, and He’ll do the same in our lives today. But we don’t have to live bound to entitlement or enslaved to temptation. Friend, I encourage you today—choose to be vulnerable. Embrace humility. Admit your need for God and invite others into the journey with you! In doing so, you’ll defeat the enemy of entitlement.

As you engage with God’s Word:

● What is God saying to me?

● What does it mean to me?

● How can I apply what God is teaching me?

● How can I be specific in prayer today?

After you reflect on these questions, bring everything to God in prayer.