Gospel Reflections #1083: God works to bring us back to Him

2 Samuel 11:9 ‘But Uriah slept at the entrance to the king’s palace with the king’s servants; he did not go home.’

This passage depicts the decisive moment when King David’s scheme to conceal his sin was thwarted by the unwavering loyalty and moral integrity of his faithful servant, Uriah.

While Uriah was away at the front, King David had an affair with his wife, Bathsheba, and caused her to become pregnant.

To conceal this sin, David summoned Uriah back from the front line; he intended to send Uriah home to sleep with his wife, thereby disguising the unborn child as ‘Uriah’s son’.

Despite King David’s urging that he ‘go home, wash his feet and rest’, Uriah did not return home.

He could not bring himself to spend time in comfort with his wife at home whilst the Ark of the Covenant and his fellow soldiers were enduring the harsh conditions of the battlefield (living in tents). This demonstrates his high level of military discipline and piety.

King David, though a king chosen by God, lied to protect himself and took another man’s wife.

Although Uriah was a ‘Hittite’ (a foreigner) rather than an Israelite, he valued his faith in the Lord (God) and his duty to his comrades far more than David did.

Because Uriah did not return home, David’s initial attempt to cover up the affair ended in complete failure.

Cornered, David subsequently attempted to get Uriah drunk and ultimately resorted to the worst possible scheme: ‘making it look as though Uriah had been killed in battle’ (by assigning him to a gruelling post on the front line).

People affected by sin have a tendency to want to conceal their lies at all costs; to hide them, they tell further lies, devise schemes to keep them hidden, and even try to protect themselves by erasing the very existence of the other person—yet these lies gradually erode their relationship with God.

God knows everything, and even so, He works to bring us back to Him.

If we focus solely on protecting ourselves, we lose sight of God.

Yet God employs every possible means to make us aware of Him.

God’s love never gives up.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.