Are You Going To Cover Up Your Sin?
So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow, I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening, Uriah went to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants, he did not go home. 2 Samuel 11:6-13
David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow, I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening, Uriah went to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants, he did not go home. 2 Samuel 11:6-13
Covering up sin can be a rather complex undertaking. Often times, it is not so much the original sin that destroys us but the attempt to hide and cover up without facing it that causes the most damage. That is what was about to happen to David.
David had gotten Bathsheba pregnant and the affair was “naturally” going to “pop” up publicly with the pregnancy. So David laid out an elaborate scheme to cover things up. He had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah brought in from the war front. David’s whole agenda (reading between the lines), was to get Uriah to go home, sleep with his wife and naturally assume that the pregnancy was by him. But Uriah was more honorable than David in his conduct. He refused to go home and enjoy the comforts of marriage. He said, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and the lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing.”
David did everything he could to persuade Joab, including getting him drunk so that his judgment would be impaired. But even in his drunkenness, Uriah held fast to his principles. He was an honorable man. David had skipped war to sleep and relax in his palace at a time when he was supposed to be out with his troops on the battlefield.
Question: Had David become so wealthy and successful that he was beginning to become a little less careful in his conduct? One could well argue that to be the case. David's dishonorable conduct paled in comparison to Uriah’s steadfast principles of behavior.
Temptations are inevitable but how we handle the aftermath of sin, makes all the difference. We can either face it and ask for forgiveness or try to cover up in an even more destructive manner. May the Lord grant us the grace to face our sins, to confess and repent. God is very forgiving!
David had gotten Bathsheba pregnant and the affair was “naturally” going to “pop” up publicly with the pregnancy. So David laid out an elaborate scheme to cover things up. He had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah brought in from the war front. David’s whole agenda (reading between the lines), was to get Uriah to go home, sleep with his wife and naturally assume that the pregnancy was by him. But Uriah was more honorable than David in his conduct. He refused to go home and enjoy the comforts of marriage. He said, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and the lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing.”
David did everything he could to persuade Joab, including getting him drunk so that his judgment would be impaired. But even in his drunkenness, Uriah held fast to his principles. He was an honorable man. David had skipped war to sleep and relax in his palace at a time when he was supposed to be out with his troops on the battlefield.
Question: Had David become so wealthy and successful that he was beginning to become a little less careful in his conduct? One could well argue that to be the case. David's dishonorable conduct paled in comparison to Uriah’s steadfast principles of behavior.
Temptations are inevitable but how we handle the aftermath of sin, makes all the difference. We can either face it and ask for forgiveness or try to cover up in an even more destructive manner. May the Lord grant us the grace to face our sins, to confess and repent. God is very forgiving!
PRAYER:
Father, please give me the courage to face and repent from my sins rather than attempt to cover up and cause more woes. Amen.
Father, please give me the courage to face and repent from my sins rather than attempt to cover up and cause more woes. Amen.