A Dead Baby And A Believing Father
"And he
said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can
tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?" --2 Samuel 12:22
When David’s son died, he
arose, washed, and anointed himself, put on his dress clothes, went to the
house of God, and worshipped. When he came home, he asked his servants to
prepare dinner for him. The servants, who had watched him weep, mourn, and pray
for his dying son, were astonished. They could not understand David’s change of
behavior. While his son was alive, but dying, David was full of sorrow. We have
no way of knowing everything that was going through his mind. But this much we
do know:
1.
Though
David’s heart was broken over his sin, he
was assured of his own forgiveness and acceptance with God (v. 13).
2. David knew that his child’s
sickness unto death was by the hand and will of the God he worshipped, loved,
and served (vv. 14-15). “The Lord struck
the child.”
3.
David
was prepared to and did submit to the will of God, even when it meant the death
of his son (vv. 22-23; Psa. 51:4).
4.
Though
David was fully convinced that upon his son’s death he would depart and be with
the Lord (v. 23), he did not want his son to die (vv. 16, 22).
Was
David bitter: Probably. Was he downcast? Of course. Was he in great pain? Yes.
His heart was crushed. He withdrew from all others, refused the ordinary joys
and necessities of life, and “besought
God for the child.” Though it was evident that the child was to die, both
by its appearance and by the fact that God had told him it must, David still
hoped that God might be gracious to him and heal his son.
Any
who saw him during this time (any who did not know David or had never
experienced what David was experiencing) might have thought David had lost his
faith. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Though his behavior
changed radically during those days of horrible, indescribable sorrow, David
believed God and he poured out his soul to him when he could express his
feelings to no one else. When his closest friends tried, in their helplessness,
to help him, David refused to be comforted, or even to eat bread with them (v.
17). He was in such a state of sorrow, agony, and devastation that he simply
could not bring himself to discuss his grief with anyone but God. He refused to
put on a good religious front. Yet, he would not let go of his God.
What
faith this man exemplified when others may have thought he had none! And when
the Lord took his son, God’s servant David both bowed to the will of God and
found comfort in it. He lived in hope of a day when he would be reunited with
his son in a world where there is no more sickness, no more pain, no more
sorrow, and no more death, because there shall be no more sin (v. 23). He lived
in hope of God’s fulfillment of his covenant (II Sam. 23:5). Now David,
Bathsheba, and their son, united around the throne of God, understand the
necessity for all that sorrow; and they thank God for it. Thus it shall be for
every grieving, sorrowing believer in the world to come.
Grace Baptist Church of Danville - Grace For
Today Radio Message #644
2734 Old Stanford Road -
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor -Telephone 606-236-8235 - Email grace@mis.net