2 Samuel 11:14-21 – Be mindful, God is looking at us

Uriah was not an ordinary soldier. He was a single-minded man of great integrity. As a responsible soldier, he refused to entertain any thought of rest when his fellow soldiers were fighting at the battlefront. Uriah was specifically named in 1 Chronicles 11:41 as one of David’s mighty men. In other words, he had fought alongside David through the thick and thin of life, until God had established the kingdom of Israel. There is no trace or hint that Uriah ever complained about how hard it was to fight with the king. This silence speaks so loudly of his faithfulness. This is what made David’s nefarious dealing with him so heinous.

Realising that Uriah could not be baited by his desperate plots to get him to go home to his wife, David drummed up a reprehensible scheme to have this faithful soldier killed. He wrote a letter instructing Joab to assign Uriah to the fiercest part of the battlefront and to withdraw the troop when the fight was most brutal. David’s intention was clear. He wanted Uriah to be left alone fighting and be killed by the Ammonites, with whom Israel was at war with. Know it or not, when left unchecked sin has a way of becoming rampant, making one more and more unhinged.   

Joab was complicit to David’s scheme. Perhaps, he was seizing the opportunity to put himself into David’s good book. It could also be that Joab had guessed what David was trying to do. He surmised that in carrying out his order, he had something that he could use to control the king. David, however, had unknowingly fallen into his own flaw. He failed to see that in getting Joab to carry out his evil bidding, he would have lost some influence over him and played himself into his control. He now had something that Joab could use to threaten him. Verse 18 suggests that Joab had to update the king on the status of the war. So a messenger was sent to report to the king. The wily Joab anticipated that David would be angry when he learned of the heavy losses. What they had lost was much more than what they had bargained for. So Joab added a postscript to let the king know that Uriah was dead. He expected this would pacify the king.

In all that was done, David failed to see that God was seeing and noting every senseless action he had taken. The lesson we must see is this: every attempt we make to cover up sin will blind us to our own accountability before God. We all will have to face God one day to give an account of our own life and work. Hebrews 4:13 clearly states so. It says, “ For there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Beloved, nothing we do is ever hidden from God’s eyes. We will do well to know that “…the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9). God’s eyes are ever upon us. He will strengthen us when we need it. So when faced with a temptation to sin, remember that our LORD, whom we are accountable to, is looking.  We can look to Him for strength to overcome and so live responsibly. Also, be sure that your sin will find you out!