READING: 2 Samuel 11, 12; 1 Chronicles 20
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: These chapters are primarily the story of David’s sin with Bathsheba and his ensuing attempt at coverup. Here are some general thoughts:
1. Sometimes simple statements are packed with trouble.
2 Sam. 11:4 He slept with her. Our North American world would think nothing of that simple phrase. In fact, it’s just expected in a culture where "whoever sleeps with whomever" — but its truth brought judgment and death into David’s life. The phrase “he slept with her” is simple, but trouble always lurks when the “he” is not the husband of the “her” in this sentence. (By the way, "So she took some of its fruit and ate it” [Gen. 3:6] is an equally simple — and disastrous — statement).
2. Sexual sin lures even the godliest people.
David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22), yet he had intercourse with another man’s wife. The pleasure of the sin was temporary, especially compared to the time and energy David spent in trying to cover up his sin. The pleasure of the sin could not have been worth (1) the anguish of trying to hide the sin; (2) the pain of the death of his son; and (3) the guilt David felt when finally confronted — but here’s the problem: it’s easy to forget these truths in the very moments when lust consumes us. The possibility of potential pleasure overshadows the guarantee of coming judgment.
3. People can go a long way to cover up sin.
From the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve hid among the trees (Gen. 3:8), we have tried to cover up our wrong. David went so far — and to be honest, this picture ought to give us pause as we think about the depth of evil in our own heart — as to have Uriah killed to hide his sin. Only God knows how far the human heart (even those after God’s heart) will go to hide wrong.
2 Sam. 11:14-15 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote: Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.
PRAYER: Let’s pray for each other that we would confess our sin — not cover it up.
TOMORROW’S READING: Psalm 32, 51, 86, 122
