By REV. LUNA DINGAYAN
www.nordis.net

“Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife! … I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you… You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see” – II Samuel 12:9-12

Pacquiao’s Amazing Victory
Manny Pacquiao’s amazing knock out victory against the Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto and thus became the world’s welterweight boxing champion deserves our national recognition and celebration. Indeed, Pacquiao had successfully made history as the only boxer in the world who was able to get seven world championship titles in seven weight divisions. No boxer past or present except Manny has ever made such a great achievement.

What Pacquiao did is very uplifting to every Filipino. Our pride as a people has been vindicated by Pacquiao’s victory. We may be known all over the world in recent past as a nation whose government is lined up among the most corrupt in the world. But not all are lost in despair; we still have Filipinos, like Manny who has enriched himself not by corruption but by his own “sweat and blood” literally, and at the same time give pride to the Filipino race.

However, just shortly after his proclamation as the winner, an intrigue or rumor emerged that Pacquiao has a relationship with a young sexy actress named Krista Ranillo. Of course, this was not the first time that Manny was linked to another woman. Whether true or not, the Pacquiao camp was able to contain the current issue and focused people’s attention to the celebration of Pacquiao’s achievement and his possible political career.

King David, the Great Leader of Israel
Some people try to compare Manny Pacquiao to the Biblical legendary hero, Samson, whose strength was believed to have come out of his long hair. Thus, Pacquiao had to fight always with his long hair.

Actually, Samson’s strength comes out not from his long hair but from God. His long hair was just a symbol of his Nazirite vow. A Nazirite is one whose life has been dedicated to serve God even before he is born. The problem with Samson is that he played with his vow in his romance with Delilah, until he lost his strength and found himself being tortured to death by the Philistines. But he realized his wrongdoing and cried out unto God to restore his strength and he would make use of it to save his own people. Of course, he died in the process of saving his people.

But I would like to compare Manny Pacquiao not to Samson but to King David, the great king of Israel. King David’s greatness stemmed from the fact that he was the king who was able to unite the 12 tribes of Israel into one kingdom. Also, he was able to conquer the Canaanite tribes, the lands of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, and assimilated them all into his great and expanding kingdom.

However, it was during his height of greatness that he was also greatly tempted and unfortunately, yielded to the temptation (cf. II Samuel 11-12). He saw the beautiful wife of one of his soldiers named Bathsheba and took her to the palace. The woman got pregnant and King David tried to cover up his wrongdoing. He ordered Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, who was at the time in the battlefield to come and sleep with his wife. But Uriah did not sleep with his wife, even when they tried to let him drink wine, because it was part of soldier’s discipline at that time not to sleep with his wife when battle was going on.

Thus, King David gave an order to Joab, the commander of the Israelite army, to put Uriah in the frontline of battle so that he will surely be killed. Upon Uriah’s death, King David took Bathsheba to the palace and became one of his wives. King David thought that no one knew what happened. He never realized that God knew everything from the very start.

And so, God sent Prophet Nathan to King David to personally confront him about the evil he had done by using the parable of the lamb, and after which, he said the following words from the Lord, saying: “Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife! … I swear to you that I will cause someone from your own family to bring trouble on you… You sinned in secret, but I will make this happen in broad daylight for all Israel to see” (II Samuel 12:9-12).

God Requires Our Personal Life
It is a great lesson in human history that great temptation comes when we are at the height of our great achievements and we know that we are indeed great. This happened to Samson, to King David, and now to Manny Pacquiao.

But what is important is how we deal with temptation. Are we going to yield to it or resist it? Samson lost his strength when he yielded to temptation with Delilah. King David’s reign as the great king of Israel deteriorated after what he did to Uriah and his beautiful wife, Bathsheba. And this can also happen to Manny Pacquiao; it can also happen to us.

God is concerned not only with our public life; God is also concerned with our own personal life. Greatness should be seen not only in public, but also in the very secret aspect of our life.# nordis.net