Saul Fails (in Sin) Where David Succeeds: Mysterious are the Ways of the Lord

I came across 1 Sam 18.17 this morning in my Bible reading. Saul hates David and wants to kill him, but realizes that he can't just murder him. What to do? Send him out to fight against the Philistines so that perhaps the Philistines will do what Saul himself cannot do. Despite Saul's best efforts, David is not killed.

Contrast this story with 2 Samuel 11.14,15, where David does the exact same thing when he gets Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, pregnant. David, in contrast to Saul, is successful. Uriah is killed in the battle (with a little help from Joab, commander of the army).

In one case, God protected David from the designs of Saul. In the other case God did not protect Uriah from the designs of David. Why the difference?

I have no clue. God could certainly have prevented David from being successful in his attempt to have Uriah killed. He chose not to do so. Events like these are why it is so useless (not to mention foolish) to try and put God into a box and say, "in situation a, God will always do b." In fact, in situation a, God does not always do b. Sometimes he prevents us from enduring the consequences of our sin, and sometimes he allows us to endure the consequences of our sin.

What is very clear from both stories is that God is ultimately just in both of them. Saul is eventually punished for his wickedness by losing not only the kingdom, but his life as well (along with the life of the rest of his household). David's child dies after it has lived for a week, and God's punishment on him is very severe.

May we take a lesson from the stories of Saul and David's sin. God will not allow sin to go unpunished, and in his grace he sometimes (but not always) prevents us from succeeding in our sin. He is, however, always a righteous judge.