2 Samuel 12:7-9
And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

David had gone to great lengths to try to cover up his sin. And can’t we all relate on some level? There is that initial panic that comes from some wrongdoing, the prospect of punishment or some undesirable consequence, maybe shame over realizing we were capable of such a thing. Maybe there is pride that our position or resources can help us to get away with something. Maybe we, like David, try to manipulate the situation in our favor and only make things worse. And maybe, like David, we live for a time with that sin hanging over us without realizing the negative effect it has on our lives.

But it is true that even if no one else on Earth ever knows what we’ve done, God surely knows all about it. No sin is hidden from His eyes. He watched David, in the aftermath of that first sin, commit yet another more grievous sin in having Uriah killed. He watched as David tried to cover up instead of face up to what he’d done. And God wasn’t going to let him off the hook for it. Especially as king, David had a great responsibility to act with integrity and not to dishonor God.

We can be sure that we’ll never get away with our sin where God is concerned. We cannot hide from Him nor fool Him in any way. But He does give us opportunities to repent. We won’t necessarily be spared the consequences of our actions, but we can restore our relationship with God and receive forgiveness by His mercy and grace. In our sinful state, our instinct is to hide, just as Adam and Eve did after the very first sin in this world. But God has made a way, through Jesus Christ, to free us from our guilt and make right what we’ve done wrong if we’re willing to own up to it and repent.