2 Samuel 11:22–27 (ESV)
22 So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. 24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” 25 David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
We have seen how David handled his sinful affair with Bathsheba. He went to great lengths to cover it. Ultimately, he had Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, killed to cover it up. Perhaps the most startling thing we read in this account is how David responds when he hears of Uriah’s death. He is cold. He is indifferent. There seems to be no remorse. His heart is hard.
David thought he had gotten away with his sin and was able to justify in his mind his wrongdoing towards Uriah. Have you ever done the same? You sin and then you lie to cover it up. Maybe the lie worked so you are pleased and even justify the lie. Sin hardens us. We sin and then we sin more to cover ourselves before others. As we sin more and more our hearts become hard towards how God thinks of our actions. Our goal becomes protecting ourselves rather than pleasing God. We see clearly that the Lord was displeased with David. He is also displeased with us when we do likewise.
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