When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. 2 Samuel 11:27
After David commits the two heinous sins of adultery and murder, surely there must be the most profound repentance—but that’s not what happens. By the end of chapter 11, the child is born. That means more than nine months have passed since David committed these sins, and has there been any repentance? None whatsoever. David has simply covered up and moved on.
The natural sequel to sin is not repentance. You see this pattern from the very beginning in Genesis. God places Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden. Everything is provided for them. God says there is one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which they must not eat. But Eve ate of the tree. And she gave to Adam, and he ate also.
Now what happened next? Adam and Eve had walked in fellowship with God, so you would think that Adam’s immediate response would be to go to God and ask for forgiveness. But that is not what happens. Instead, “the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:8). And if God hadn’t sought them and called them out, that’s where they would have remained.
The natural sequel to sin is not repentance, but hiding. The sinner’s first impulse is to run from God. It’s the most natural reaction in the world. So what hope is there of reconciliation with God? None whatsoever, if it were left to us.
How have you tried to cover up and hide from God after your sin this week?
