Secret Sinning is No Secret to God

“And it came to pass in an evening tide, that David arose off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon” (2 Sam. 11:2).

I believe most of our sinning takes place in a secretive way and even the motivation behind our transgressions is usually publicly concealed. Envy, pride, lust, and covetousness are some of the secret catalysts working privately behind the scenes causing us to sin. King David provides an excellent example of the dangers of secret sinning as he gave way to temptation and committed some atrocious acts in a secretive way. Maybe he thought like many today that his sin would go unnoticed. Notice the context of 2 Samuel Chapter 11:

• He secretively continued to watch a woman bathing nude (2).
• He secretively sent for the woman after learning she was married (3).
• He secretively committed adultery with the married woman (4).
• He secretively got the married woman pregnant (5).
• He secretively tried to deceive the married woman’s husband (8-11).
• He secretively pretended to be the friend of the husband (12-13)
• He secretively devised a plot to murder the husband (15).
• He secretively used the husband as a messenger for his own death (14).
• He secretively involved others in the murderous plot (16-17).

After the deed was done David took the woman to be his wife and everything seemed fine (11:24-27a). However, David forgot, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Pr. 15:3). Therefore, “…the thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Sam. 11:27b). After the prophet Nathan declared God would bring evil upon David, he also added, “For thou didst it SECRETLY: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun” (12:12). God knew exactly what David did (12:9). We must never forget that God is watching us too. He sees and knows everything (2 Chr. 16:9; Heb. 4:13). There isn’t a dirty deed or foul word that will go unnoticed or that will escape punishment because God sees in secret (Matt. 6:6; Rom. 2:6). He even sees the intents of the heart (1 Sam 16:7). 

                                                                    Richard Stevens III