... continued from previous post
God put away the sin of David. This mean that God was granting remission to David for his sins. But though the eternal guilt of David's sin was remitted he still received temporal punishment for his sin. Through Nathan God announced that the child of the adulterous union would be taken from David and Bathsheba. What follows is a difficult verse to assimilate into our faith but one that bears heavily upon our understanding of the providence of God:
Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill. (2 Samuel 12:15)
Scripture declares that the Lord struck the infant child of David with a mortal illness. This is a hard saying. It is commonplace in the church today to hear vain attempts by preachers to exonerate God from any involvement in human sickness and death. I heard one televangelist declare that God has nothing to do with disease and death. He assigned these human tragedies to the work of Satan.
Such sentiments do violence, not only to our understanding of the providence of God, but to our understanding of the whole character of God. Christianity is not a religion of dualism by which God and Satan are equal and opposite opposing forces destined to fight an eternal struggle that must result in a tie. God is sovereign over His entire creation, including the subordinate domain of Satan. God is Lord of death as well as life. He rules over pain and disease as sovereignly as He rules over prosperity.
If God had nothing to do with sickness or death, Christians, of all people, would be the most to be pitied. It would mean living in a universe ruled by chaos where our Father's hand was tied by fate and bound by the fickleness of chance. His arm would not be mighty to save; it would be impotent. But, the preachers to the contrary, God has everything to do with sickness and death. God majors in suffering. The way of redemption is the Via Dolorosa, the road to the cross. Our Lord was Himself a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. No, God is not removed from or aloof from human suffering; it is contained within the scope of His providence. Our family understood that truth when Sherrie and her husband lost their baby.
And David also understood these things, as is seen by the subsequent narrative:
David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he wold not, nor did he eat food with them. Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, "Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!"
When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" And they said, "He is dead."
So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food."
And he said, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." (2 Samuel 12:16-23)
Here we encounter the David who was a man after God's own heart. Here the character that resonates throughout the psalms makes himself clear. When God said no to the pleas of David, he immediately went to church, not to whine or complain but to worship. Here we see David living coram Deo, before the face of God. David pled his case before the throne of the Almighty, and lost. yet he was willing to bow before the providence of God, to let God be God.
Such acquiescence before the providence of God is difficult for the world to understand. David's servants failed to grasp it; they saw in their king a spiritual anomaly. His behavior made no sense to them. They sought to rebuke him for his topsy-turvy actions. They thought David should have been in mourning after the child had died, believing that was the time for sackcloth and ashes, not while the child was still alive.
When David explained himself to his servants he gave them a lesson in the doctrine of providence. Though David had clearly heard God's declaration that the child would died and he did no regard it as an idle threat, he was also aware of God's actions in the past when He had relented from promised judgments when the people turned to Him in repentance.
David explained his entreaties by saying, "Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?" The phrase "who can tell?" is the key to understanding David's prolonged fast and importunate prayer. The "who can tell?" calls attention to the Deus absconditus, the "hidden God" whose secret counsel remains unkown to us. David had heard the words of the Deus revelatus, the "revealed" God, but held out hope that it was not the entire story. When he discovered that God had not held any of His plan in reserve it was enough to satisfy his soul and submit to God's "no." In a sense David's struggle foreshadowed something of the agony of Christ in Gethsemane as Jesus wrestled with the revealed will of the Father, but in the final analysis was will to drink of the cup to its fullest measure.
If we understand the providence of God and love the God of providence, we are able to worship Him with the sacrifice of praise He inherently deserves when things occur that bring pain, sorrow, and affliction into our lives. This understanding of providence is vital to all who would worship God. It is a worship of faith that is rooted in trust. David trusted God for his own future, and he trusted God for the future of his son. David realized he had not yet heard the rest of the story and that all the subsequent chapters would be written by God.
We should know like David we too can find a special place in God's Heart. David was not perfect. Like all of us he fell again and again. Yet every time He fell, his response was immediate repentance. This act restored his relationship with God. God knows our short-comings. That is why He sent His Son Jesus.
Then Nathan departed to his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill. (2 Samuel 12:15)
Scripture declares that the Lord struck the infant child of David with a mortal illness. This is a hard saying. It is commonplace in the church today to hear vain attempts by preachers to exonerate God from any involvement in human sickness and death. I heard one televangelist declare that God has nothing to do with disease and death. He assigned these human tragedies to the work of Satan.
Such sentiments do violence, not only to our understanding of the providence of God, but to our understanding of the whole character of God. Christianity is not a religion of dualism by which God and Satan are equal and opposite opposing forces destined to fight an eternal struggle that must result in a tie. God is sovereign over His entire creation, including the subordinate domain of Satan. God is Lord of death as well as life. He rules over pain and disease as sovereignly as He rules over prosperity.
If God had nothing to do with sickness or death, Christians, of all people, would be the most to be pitied. It would mean living in a universe ruled by chaos where our Father's hand was tied by fate and bound by the fickleness of chance. His arm would not be mighty to save; it would be impotent. But, the preachers to the contrary, God has everything to do with sickness and death. God majors in suffering. The way of redemption is the Via Dolorosa, the road to the cross. Our Lord was Himself a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. No, God is not removed from or aloof from human suffering; it is contained within the scope of His providence. Our family understood that truth when Sherrie and her husband lost their baby.
And David also understood these things, as is seen by the subsequent narrative:
David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he wold not, nor did he eat food with them. Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, "Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!"
When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" And they said, "He is dead."
So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food."
And he said, "While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, 'Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." (2 Samuel 12:16-23)
Here we encounter the David who was a man after God's own heart. Here the character that resonates throughout the psalms makes himself clear. When God said no to the pleas of David, he immediately went to church, not to whine or complain but to worship. Here we see David living coram Deo, before the face of God. David pled his case before the throne of the Almighty, and lost. yet he was willing to bow before the providence of God, to let God be God.
Such acquiescence before the providence of God is difficult for the world to understand. David's servants failed to grasp it; they saw in their king a spiritual anomaly. His behavior made no sense to them. They sought to rebuke him for his topsy-turvy actions. They thought David should have been in mourning after the child had died, believing that was the time for sackcloth and ashes, not while the child was still alive.
When David explained himself to his servants he gave them a lesson in the doctrine of providence. Though David had clearly heard God's declaration that the child would died and he did no regard it as an idle threat, he was also aware of God's actions in the past when He had relented from promised judgments when the people turned to Him in repentance.
David explained his entreaties by saying, "Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?" The phrase "who can tell?" is the key to understanding David's prolonged fast and importunate prayer. The "who can tell?" calls attention to the Deus absconditus, the "hidden God" whose secret counsel remains unkown to us. David had heard the words of the Deus revelatus, the "revealed" God, but held out hope that it was not the entire story. When he discovered that God had not held any of His plan in reserve it was enough to satisfy his soul and submit to God's "no." In a sense David's struggle foreshadowed something of the agony of Christ in Gethsemane as Jesus wrestled with the revealed will of the Father, but in the final analysis was will to drink of the cup to its fullest measure.
If we understand the providence of God and love the God of providence, we are able to worship Him with the sacrifice of praise He inherently deserves when things occur that bring pain, sorrow, and affliction into our lives. This understanding of providence is vital to all who would worship God. It is a worship of faith that is rooted in trust. David trusted God for his own future, and he trusted God for the future of his son. David realized he had not yet heard the rest of the story and that all the subsequent chapters would be written by God.
We should know like David we too can find a special place in God's Heart. David was not perfect. Like all of us he fell again and again. Yet every time He fell, his response was immediate repentance. This act restored his relationship with God. God knows our short-comings. That is why He sent His Son Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment