Practical Lessons From 2 Samuel (Part 3)
Our next practical lesson from II Samuel is this:

7. SIN IS OFTEN COMPOUNDED WHEN ONE TRIES TO HIDE IT.
II Samuel 11:6-17:

"Then David sent to Joab, saying, 'Send me Uriah the Hittite.' And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. And David said to Uriah, 'Go down to your house and wash your feet.' So Uriah departed from the king's house, and a gift of food from the king followed him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. So when they told David, saying, 'Uriah did not go down to his house,' David said to Uriah, 'Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?' And Uriah said to David, 'The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.' Then David said to Uriah, 'Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.' So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, 'Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.' So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also."
Uriah was an honorable man. David seems anything but honorable in this chapter. First lust, then adultery, and now murder! The first two sins were bad enough, but David is multiplying his sins now in an effort to hide them (though trying to hide one's sins is always an effort in futility).

8. WHEN ONE DOES NOT REPENT, HE WILL FIND IT EASY TO RATIONALIZE HIS SINS.
II Samuel 11:25 - "Then David said to the messenger, 'Thus you shall say to Joab: "Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it." So encourage him.'"
It seems unlikely that Joab knew about the Bathsheba incident at this time (though he was shrewd enough to know that something was going on). Joab arranged for Uriah to die in battle simply because David commanded it (this exposes quite a bit about Joab's character, too). It was easy for David to rationalize the murder he ordered because he had not turned from his evil way. In David's mind, since Uriah wouldn't sleep with his wife, he had to be killed so the act of adultery could be kept secret. There was no other way--or so David had convinced himself. Many today make similar mistakes in trying to justify their illicit behaviors.

9. GOD SEES EVERYTHING.
II Samuel 11:27 - "And when her 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."
Surely some of the household servants knew what was going on, but no one was going to make problems for David regarding Bathsheba now--or so he thought! He was under the delusion that he had gotten away with adultery and murder. But the LORD saw it all, was displeased, and was going to do something about it!