One thing that all people everywhere have in common is the predisposition to cover up one’s mistakes and sins. There’s just something in all of us that seems to drive us to hide them, to explain them away, to deflect attention from them, to assign blame elsewhere, and to do all within our power to make them go away.

We’ve all done this, multiple times. And we have done it from our earliest days as little children who did something mommy or daddy had forbidden. Perhaps you have even covered up something recently, maybe not on the scale that we will examine this Sunday morning from the life of David. But you have hidden something from your parents, your spouse, your boss, or your neighbor. In a moment when you were most keenly aware of your guilt, you have done your best to sweep away the evidence of your sin, and attempted to effect some repair of the damage you’ve done.

These cover-ups involve sins and transgressions of all types and sizes. Such sins range from those that appear to be the most trivial and inconsequential, to those that are abysmal, catastrophic, and involve consequences that are ultimate.

This is the story of 2 Samuel 11:6-27, king David’s story. And it is our text for this coming Lord’s Day message. David will attempt a cover-up. But, as we will see, things don’t go as planned. And chapter 11 ends with those dreadful words of verse 27, “ But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.”