One role that the king had was that of final court of appeal in matters of justice. The king was to be a man who loved righteousness and hated evil (Psalm 45:7) and indeed we see that in David. The longest psalm in the Psalter is that psalm of David in which he continually declares his delight in God’s law (119). Consider also the many psalms in which David speaks out against evil and injustice (14). So, when David hears this case, brought to him by Nathan, he is naturally enraged at the injustice he hears about and declares that the perpetrator should be executed. But the perpetrator of this injustice was David himself. How could he be so sensitive to the horrors of injustice in others but not recognise such evil in himself, even though it was so obviously acted out? In this case David did what all human beings have become so proficient at: repressing the consciousness of things in ourselves that are too abhorrent to live with. The famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud recognised this tendency, but the Bible diagnosed it first. We do it all the time and you may even be doing it now. God may be trying to get you to confront a sin that is poisoning your soul and yet you may be barely conscious of it. The answer is not complicated. Ask God to bring to light the things in you that he is displeased with. Let him set you free.
Do what I have suggested.
Read 2 Samuel 12:1-12
