April 12

2 Samuel 11

This is a well known passage of the Bible, one that is taught in Sunday School from an early age. Although I know the story, I am challenged to think about it in a different way-in the context of forgiveness.
David must obviously feel some remorse for what he did, because he tries to have Uriah lie with Bathsheba to try and cover up what he has done. Uriah, being a man of God, does not, though. Multiple times David tries to trick Uriah into being with his wife, but he always fails. What if David had confessed? Would Uriah have forgiven him? He was a man of God.
The other thing that struck me in this passage is how quickly David forgave Joab. Joab suspected that the king might be upset about how the fighting went, but he wasn't. Instead, he was preoccupied with the fact that Uriah was dead.
I think that David had a lot of guilt about what he had done. Why else would he go to such lengths to "fix" it? What if he had come clean? What if he had confessed and asked for forgiveness?
How often in my life do I try to cover up what I do? How often does guilt overwhelm me that it consumes my thinking and dictates my actions? Did David really think that by killing Uriah he could rid himself of what he had done?
I don't think that trying to fix our guilt through coverups will make us feel better. For me, I always feel more at peace when I put things out in the open, as hard as that may be. By asking for forgiveness from God, others, and ourselves, it does not mean that consequences are eliminated, I think it means that we are laying down a burden so that we can continue to live our lives.

-Jenni