One ministry received a call from someone who listened to their program broadcast on confessing hidden sins. The listener was convicted of her long-buried offense, a lie that could send her to jail if she came forward to admit it. After some words from Scripture and prayer, the woman said goodbye and the ministry never heard from her again.
We all have our skeletons in the closet. It could have been a shoplifting experience in middle school. Another could be an abortion as a teen. Someone else’s offense may be reneging on a promise. Another may be suppressing the truth. Petty or grave, it’s still sin, and sin will live in our conscience to haunt us from time to time.
King David decided to stay in Jerusalem instead of going off to war with his men, as was customary in springtime. “One evening [he] got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her” (2 Samuel 11:1-3).
Here we see the king staying behind and sending his men to battle. So, David had lots of time on his hands. Perhaps he was bored that night and there was a show that happened to be available for him to watch—a woman’s bathtime. The woman’s beauty easily captured his attention and piqued his interest, so he had to find out who she was. The book of James confirmed what was happening. James said, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (1:14).
After finding out who the woman was, “David sent messengers to get [Bathsheba]. She came to him, and he slept with her…Then she went back home” (2 Samuel 11:4). He didn’t care that she was a married woman. It was a one-time thing and not a full-blown affair, that’s all. Who are we to judge, right? If it was one of us, we can call it a lapse in judgment no one needs to know about, delete it from our memory bank, and happily move on with our lives. But James didn’t mince his words, when he said, “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (1:15). The secret mistake we can easily dismiss is still spelled s-i-n and will bring judgment.
When Bathsheba discovered her pregnancy and sent word to David, the great cover-up had to happen. David sent for Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, who was one of his soldiers at battle. David wanted Uriah to be intimate with his wife and pass off Bathsheba’s pregnancy to Uriah. What a happy family they would have! But nothing happened according to David’s plan, so he extended Uriah’s time off. Uriah still didn’t sleep with his wife, knowing it wasn’t right for him to celebrate while the rest of the battalion was out fighting.
It was getting harder for David to control the narrative. He decided to send Uriah to the frontlines where he was sure to die. After Bathsheba came out of her mourning, David made her his wife and their child was born. He got the woman. And people didn’t wonder about their son’s legitimacy. David must have felt so pleased with the turn of events that he forgot one thing: “The thing David had done displeased the LORD” (2 Samuel 11:27), so the Lord sent Nathan, the prophet, to confront him.
Nathan told David of a case between a poor man and a rich man, with the rich man stealing the poor man’s ewe lamb and killing it. David’s anger at the injustice burned inside him and he passed judgment on the rich man, sentencing him to death. Nathan didn’t pump the brakes after hearing the verdict. Instead, he turned to David and told him to his face that he was that rich man who took what didn’t belong to him. “Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites” (2 Samuel 12:9).
Let’s not pretend that David did not feel the stress of his sin after Bathsheba announced her pregnancy. It pushed him to make plans to quietly put his secret sin to rest. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (NKJV). Instead of admitting to his adulterous act with Bathsheba and asking God for forgiveness, he went deeper into sin with more lies and murder on his hands.
Today it’s easier to shrug off sin and its consequences for the world does not care as much. People are living as if there is no God, and “everyone is [doing] what [is] right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). But for followers of Jesus, being obedient to the Word should be a priority for God “delights in truth in [our] inward being" (Psalm 51:6). The Apostle Paul said, “You are slave of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness” (Romans 6:16).
In her December 16 devotional, Annie Tipton said, “When people are doing the right thing—living with integrity and making upright choices—they have little reason to be paranoid. They don’t have to look over their shoulders; they don’t have to wonder who will catch up to them or when they will be found out. There’s peace in knowing no justified blame can come their way.”
Fear. Guilt. Shame. No peace. Sleepless nights. Sweaty palms. Shaking hands. We shouldn’t wonder why we suffer from any of these since David himself admitted, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). God will ultimately bring our skeletons out of the closet to confront us of our need to confess and ask for His forgiveness…Hopefully, to also declare like David, “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:13).
It's time for us to pray David’s prayer: “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 51:10-12). Let’s not wait for God’s judgment on our hidden sins!
Resources:
Tipton, Annie. Daily Wisdom for Women 2024 Devotional Collection (Uhrichsville, OH; Barbour Publishing Inc.), 2023.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/AaronAmat
Luisa Collopy is an author, speaker and a women’s Bible study teacher. She also produces Mula sa Puso (From the Heart) in Tagalog (her heart language), released on FEBC Philippines stations. Luisa loves spending time with her family over meals and karaoke!