What To Do When You Try To Cover Up

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU TRY TO COVER UP

A COVER UP

(PSALM 51)

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to the sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.

Today we’re going to look at a story about a man of God who "messed up" in a big major way. He committed sins that you simply wouldn’t expect a good Christian man would do. And it wasn’t one of those things where he did it without knowledge of what he was doing, but instead he accidentally on purpose committed what he thought was to be a secret sin. Yes, I’m afraid he put a great deal of thought and effort into this, and then went to even greater trouble to cover it up. In fact, the events in his life read more like a movie script than a Bible story.

Simply because, when the smoke finally cleared, two folk were dead and two families destroyed. However, the most amazing fact about this, is that didn’t ruin the man, for he was able to recover, repent, re-atone and be restored from the cover-up that he tried to cover-up and get back on his feet.

You might have already guessed the man I’m talking about for he is no other than, King David. Yes, the same one, who killed Goliath, and later wrote the most recognizable book in the Bible, which is Psalm.

Now relax a minute, while I give you the story…which is found in 2 Samuel 11-13 chapters. See, one evening, King David had a hard time getting to sleep, so he went out on the back porch of his palace to get some air. Off in the distance he saw Sister Old Self, a woman named Bethsheba, as she was taking a bath…must have been a real hot night, and the Bible states that she was very beautiful in appearance.” Now, if he had any sense, he would have turn and gotten off of that rooftop, asap. But that would have been too easy, so he lingered, and let his eyes feast on every inch of Bathsheba’s wet body, so much until he could think of nothing but having her for himself.

But wait, Sis. Old Self is not guiltless either. For, even though, she may not have purposely enticed David, she was careless, tactless and exposed. I mean, to disrobe and bathe in an open courtyard in full view of any number of rooftop in the neighborhood was asking for trouble. She could easily have bathed indoors. And, even in our day, there some women don’t seem to realize what the sight of their flesh can do to a man. Now, you do have those who do, and just don’t care. For, they allow themselves to be fancied into the fashion mold of the world of wearing revealing clothes, or nearly nothing at all; then they wonder why the men they meet cannot think of anything but sex.

With that in mind, we need to instruct our younger girls in these matters, particularly as they enter their teen years. And especially, teach our daughters some facts about the nature of man and the meaning of modesty, then set standards on how God wants them to dress.

But, back to David, for when he found out the cat was away he was ready to play. Meaning that her husband, Uriah, was a soldier and away at war, so David sent for her and seduced her. After all he was the King, Right? No Wrong! For, sometime later, she told him that he was going to be a baby-daddy. And, in an attempt to cover his tracks, David had Uriah brought in from the battlefield…for a time of "R&R". Here, King David suggested that Uriah go home and spend time with his wife. But, Uriah…being a good soldier, politely refused; for going home to his wife during a time of war would have been an act of disloyalty to his fellow soldiers.

So since Uriah couldn’t be persuaded to compromise, David sent him back to battle with a letter to deliver to the commanding officer. Now, what Uriah didn’t know, was that he was delivering his own death warrant. For, the letter told the CO to put Uriah on the front lines and withdraw the other troops so Uriah would be sure to die. This is exactly what happened. Uriah was killed in battle and David, the King, the man after God’s heart married Bethsheba.

Now, since he had covered up the cover up, no one in Israel knew the story behind the story, but the Bible says, in 2 Samuel 11:27 that…The Lord was very displeased with what David had done. Well, it wasn’t long before a prophet named Nathan confronted David with his sin. And, David knew that he had done wrong, and I’m sure that deep down he knew he couldn’t get away with it. To make matters worse, David and Bethsheba’s newborn child was very sick, and Nathan said it was all David’s fault. He said to David, "Because of what you have done, this baby is going to die." Imagine how David felt about that! He couldn’t hide it any longer. He had blown it in a big way, and now it was time to face the music.