“Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.” (2 Samuel 12:20)
King David. What a great example of the favor of God. Despite his faults (which he had several), despite his failures (which the Bible openly records) God recognized his love and his heart of worship. David was a little slow to repent – like most of us. But once he did, he was back on track.
In the passage leading up to this verse, we read of the death of his child by Bathsheba. I won’t recount the entire story – you can easily read it in a few minutes – only to say this child was a product of his sin. David fasted and prayed for the healing and recovery of this child for many days, yet in the end the child died. We see here his response.
I have seen once-faithful, rock-solid Christians totally fall apart at the death of a child. Totally understandable in the flesh. Although I have never had children of my own, I watched my own parents struggle when my sister died at the age of 26. They never completely recovered from this loss, but they never turned their backs on God. I have seen others, however, who totally walked away from the Church and totally blamed God for taking their loved ones. Again, in the flesh – totally humanly speaking – I get it. God, the One Who created everything, Who is all-powerful, all-knowing COULD have prevented it. Still He chose not to for some reason.
How do you respond when God doesn’t answer your prayers the way you think He should? What happens when you have fasted and prayed, stood on scripture, believed, joined with others in your faith – yet the bottom falls out? Rev. Joyce Meyers teaches a lesson entitled, “Why, God, Why?” It is entirely normal (and not totally outside the bounds of propriety) to ask God this question. After all, didn’t Joshua ask God why the Israelites suffered loss at the hands of the people of Ai? And didn’t God proceed to direct him in discovering the answer to that question? I won’t pretend to sit here and tell you there is always a nice, neat answer. Sometimes God remains silent. When those times come, what do you do? What should we do?
David provides a beautiful example to all of us in this verse. The Bible says he arose, bathed, anointed himself, changed his apparel (put on fresh clothes), entered the house of the Lord, and worshiped. I’m sure he still was hurting. I’m sure he still had questions. I’m sure, given the circumstances, he battled with guilt and shame. BUT that did not change Who God Was and Is. God is still our heavenly Father. He still wants to love us, forgive us, provide for us, protect us, guide us, and bring us home to heaven to be with Him. He never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. While HE IS the God of mercy, the God of love, and the tender Father, HE IS also the God of justice, the God of vengeance, the jealous One Who will share His glory with none other. Sometimes our worship comes from a place of blessing and peace, a place of victory and celebration. But other times our worship comes from a broken heart, a bleeding spirit, insufferable pain, and, yes, even sometimes great suffering. Yet we should strive to follow in David’s footsteps.
We need to walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before us – including Jesus Himself – through the valley of the shadow of death, through the hard times, over the peaks of mountaintop experiences in our lives, and through the back side of the grave into the bright light of eternal life. The cadence of our walk should be in step with our worship of the Holy One of Israel. I challenge you, as I have challenged myself, to never forget: our experiences do not change God, Who HE IS, or His worthiness of our worship. Whatever you are facing, wherever you are in your walk with God, may this be the day you get in step with the songs of the redeemed. Don’t try to explore in order to find and blaze some other trail up the mountain of God. Jesus is THE WAY, the ONLY Way. Give Him glory and honor through your life. And may the God of David recognize in you and man (or woman) after His own heart.
Be blessed.
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