Uriah didn't do what David told him to. David had gotten Uriah's wife pregnant and wanted to hide the pregancy by having Uriah sleep with his own wife and then they could pretend the baby was his. But Uriah refused to go against his own conscience. David asks him why he didn't sleep in his own place. Uriah responds, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this." (verse 11)
This should have been a wake-up call to David. He should have confessed right there to Uriah and made it as right as he could. What happened to the man after God's own heart? He had let his own sin and lust deceive him.
Since he couldn't manipulate Uriah he told Joab to have him killed in battle.
Sin will deceive us to do more than we ever thought we could do. It is bad stuff. But this bad stuff isn't just adultery and murder and the other "big" sins. Sin is sin. Sin is what comes between us and God.
whatever is not from faith is sin. Romans 14:23c
Yep. That is pretty straightforward and also quite sobering. If we are doubting, if we are doing anything out of fear, if we are living a lie, we are sinning.
And if we are trying to manipulate those around us to do what we think they should do we are engaging in violent behavior.
So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; it takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:19
When we try to manipulate, whether we are successful at it or not, what we get from it won't bring us peace. It won't in the end proft us at all. It will take away a bit of us little by little.
If you're a parent, don't manipulate your children. There's a fine line when we need to tell them what to do (like chores, not hitting, not whatever.....), but when it comes to trying to make them into who we think they should be, then we are manipulating them. And this is wrong. This is sin. This is a lack of faith. Let God have the reins. Let God grow them into the people He created them to be.