2 Samuel 12

  

In Second Samuel Chapter 12, several things caught my attention that I really hadn't noticed before. First was God's word to David. "I gave you all this. And if you wanted more, I would have given it to you." In verse number eight, God would have given David more. But no, David wanted what he wanted, and it was wrong.

Also, God's promise that what is done in secret will be shown openly. By the way, this is manifest again in the New Testament, where Jesus says that what is done in secret will be publicly acknowledged. So don't think you're hiding it. That's why it's so important to ask for forgiveness and have God come into you. He can give you the grace to accept it.

Also, David's acceptance of God's will when it came to the death of his child. He prayed and he prayed, he grieved in a very true way. But it wasn't grieving that was happening when the child was sick. It was calling out to God. And he stopped calling out to God when he saw that God wasn't going to heal his child. He accepted it. I'm sure he was. But he had come to understand now wasn't the time to try to call out to God to beg because God said no.

The amazing thing is that this relationship, which should not have taken place between David and Bathsheba. There was a son finally born named Solomon, whom Nathan, the prophet, told him to name Jedediah, meaning beloved. Is it amazing that God can bring forth the beloved from something sinful? Like God brings us, sinners broken from the actions of our Adam and Eve and our parents, all the way down to our own disobedience. When we call out forgiveness, he takes and creates one who is beloved. I just think that's a man we see.

And then finally, the last chapter, when Job tells David, "You need to get down here and take credit for this, or I will." And it just hits me, if Joab had done this early on, told David, "Hey David, you need to get down here and not stay in Jerusalem," there wouldn't have been any of this problem with Bethsheba.

Photo by Omar:. Lopez-Rincon on Unsplash