Today’s Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:6-11
6 Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah arrived, David asked him how Joab and the army were getting along and how the war was progressing. 8 Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. 9 But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard.
10 When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?”
11 Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.”
Today’s Devotional
The book of 2 Samuel covers David’s reign as king. It was quite an interesting kingship! One of the racier items was when David slept with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah which resulted in a pregnancy.
David tried many different things to cover up his sin – including what is described in this passage. Ultimately David had Uriah killed by placing him on the front line of a battle.
I wonder what would have happened if David had just confessed to God? It seems David never contemplated this course of action. And yet in the end the truth still came out. The only difference was the extra damage done by David’s attempt at a cover-up – including the death of Uriah and the death of the child.
We really do not want to fess up to God sometimes. Maybe we are embarrassed, ashamed, or afraid of consequences. But time and time again in scripture we see that God wants us to be honest with him – and God always forgives. Yes, we are embarrassed and ashamed and yes there are always consequences. But in coming clean before God we soon realize that we are loved and forgiven.
Since Easter Sunday we have had a moment of confession in our worship time. There is a reason for that. We need to get in the habit of coming before God with the ways we have failed to live as God would have us live and love as God would have us love. We need to be honest about our failures instead of learning to cover them up. And we need to hear those words of assurance – that we are forgiven, thanks be to God.
Today’s Prayer
God forgive us for not coming to you with our confessions. Forgive us of our cover-ups and the ways that we try to downplay what we have done. Remind us that you love us and you want honesty from us. Remind us also that we are forgiven.
Amen
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