Even if You don't (Pt.1)

(Part 1 of 2)

“After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said. “What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?” When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.”-2 Samuel 12:15-20

Have you ever experienced a moment when you were angry with God, because He didn’t come through for you as you’d hoped He would? Have you ever prayed for something repeatedly, fasted, and pleaded with God to show mercy in a certain situation and it feels as if God was ignoring you?

In this story King David had just been rebuked by the Prophet Nathan. David, during a time when he should have been out to war with his men, had stayed back in Jerusalem. It is during that time that he saw and became intimate with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah; one of the soldiers under his command. She became pregnant, and after unsuccessfully trying to get Uriah to sleep with her to cover up what had happened, David had Uriah killed in battle. Nathan rebukes David and we see according to 2 Samuel 12, the child born to David & Bathsheba becomes ill.

David’s response to these tragic turn of events was to pray. He pleased with God and fasted, crying out to God for mercy night after night. Yet, despite all his efforts, his son dies. David had made some sever mistakes, but he was also the one to whom God referred to as a man after His own heart. Was David’s repentance and cries for mercy not genuine? If you take time to read Psalm 51 you will hear David’s heartfelt repentance over his sinful choices. So why did God not answer? Why did God allow that child to die? Why does God allow bad things to happen when it is in His power to stop it?

These are the thoughts that we’ve all had at one time or another. I am sure that they ran through David’s mind as well. However, when news of his son’s death reached him, he did something that caught even his closest servants off guard. He got up off the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped.

Even though God didn’t answer David’s prayer as he had hoped, David’s hope remained in God alone. When his cries for mercy went unanswered, he turned his attention to worship. David worshipped God for who He was, not simply for what He could do. David’s worship wasn’t based on what God did for Him, but who God was to Him.

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church