There was nothing

“And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.” - 1 Kings 18v43

After the defeat of Baal’s prophets on Mt Carmel Elijah knew that the drought was just about over. He told everyone to prepare because there was “a sound of abundance of rain” even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

He sent his servant to the coast to see is there was any indication. When he got there, “There was nothing.” He went back five more times – still nothing. On the seventh look there was a small cloud on the horizon, just the sign of a man’s fist. When he told Elijah he told Ahab to get his chariot ready before the rains came. Elijah knew that God was about to work.

How do we respond when we don’t see God doing anything? How many of us would give up the first time we saw nothing. Or the second, or third, or fourth time? How many would have just said on the seventh time, “O, its just a little cloud – nothing to get excited about.”

Elijah had enough faith to know that God was going to work. He acted my faith, not by what he could see. His faith should encourage us to trust God even when we look and “there is nothing.”

How long halt ye between two opinions

“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.” - 1 Kings 18v21

Ahab was the most evil king Israel had. He made things worse by marrying Jezebel, a Sidonian who also worshipped false gods. They dragged Israel into idolatry. What made things worse is that he people tried to combine their false worship with the worship of Jehovah.

Because of this situation God sent a drought on the land. He also sent His prophet Elijah to deal with the nation. Elijah called for a great contest at Mt Carmel. He faced 450 prophets of Baal while he stood alone.

When Elijah came to the people he dealt with their sin, “How long will you continue to falter between two opinions? If the Lord be God follow Him, and if Baal is god than follow him.”

Elijah made it clear – they did not have the option of worshipping both God and Baal. They had to decide on one or the other. Jesus repeated this when He said that we could not serve both God and mammon.
Too many Christians try to lead the compromise life. They want to serve God, but they also can’t quite let go of the world. Just like Israel – we can’t have it both ways. The choice is ours, will we serve God or our own version of Baal?

Asa’s heart was loyal to the Lord all his days

“But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the LORD all his days.” - 1 Kings 15v14

Asa was the son of Abijah and grandson of Jeroboam. His great-grandfather was Solomon. Three generations of kings before him had turned for worshipping the true God to their false idols. He grandmother had set up an obscene image of the god Ahserah. He certainly did not have a godly heritage.

In spite of this, Asa returned to the ways of his great-great-grandfather David. He had a heart that was loyal to the Lord all his days. He tore down the idols and returned to the nation to the worship of Jehovah. However, he did not tear down the high places where false worship took place. He did not do the job completely.

David and Asa both had hearts for the Lord, but they both failed to serve God with absolute perfection. David had his sin with Bathsheba and Asa did not get rid of the worship places. Even a heart for God is not going to bring about absolute perfection. That kind of perfection only comes through the indwelling Christ.

A good and loyal heart is not enough. Only Christ can make us perfect and only in Him.

A man who could not be bought

“And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:” - 1 Kings 13v8

A man of God had come the Bethel to bring condemnation on Jeroboam for building a false altar there. When the man of God started preaching Jeroboam pointed to him screaming, “Arrest him!” Immediately the hand he was pointing with withered up and the altar broke in two.

Jeroboam confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness. When God granted it Jeroboam invited this man of God to his house and to give him a reward. The man of God responded emphatically, “Even if you gave me half of your house I will not come, for God has told me what to do!” and he went on His way.

This man could not be bought. Half of the king’s house would be a vast amount of wealth and a great temptation, but he knew was his task was and he set about. He could not be bought or persuaded by the world.

Do we have the kind of character that this man of God had? Is the most important thing in our lives doing what God tells us to do or are side-tracked by the baubles of this world?
Thank God for this godly man’s example!

The king forsook the old men’s counsel

“And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him;” - 1 Kings 12v13

When Rehoboam became king on Solomon’s’ death he did a wise thing. He went to two groups of people for advice. Seeking advice is always good. First he went to the older men who had advised Solomon. They advised him to continue to seek the will of the people and treat them well as his father had done.

He did not like that advise so he went to his young friends who advised him to crack down on the people, increase their taxes, and “show then who was boss.”

He obviously had two choices, and he made the wrong one. The advice of the young men appealed to his youthful pride and he decided to follow them. His decision led to the division of the nation already been prophesied and even civil war.
There is wisdom in seeking the advice of those who are older than we are. They have years of living and experience that younger people do not have. The advice of older people is not perfect, but it is well worth considering.

Solomon’s heart was not perfect with the Lord

“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” - 1 Kings 11v4

Solomon seemingly had it made. God had made him wiser than any man alive. He had wealth beyond measure, receiving tons of gold every year. He was the king of a powerful nation. He has “everything.”

We would think that if we had everything we would be happy serving God and that we would have no problems. Deep down Solomon had a problem. I Kings 11v1 says that he “loved many foreign women.” The result was that his heart was not “perfect.” He left this sin undealt with. The result is that these foreign wives worshipped their own gods and drew Solomon to worship the false gods as well.

Solomon’s problem was that he did not deal with all of the sins in his life, He never dealt with his problem with women.
It does not matter what the sin is. When we do not deal with sins we open ourselves to all kinds of problems. All sins in our lives have the potential of turning our hearts from God.

And they went to their tents joyful and glad of heart.

“On the eighth day he sent the people away: and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the LORD had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.” - 1 Kings 8v66

What a day it must have been for the people of Israel! The magnificent new temple had been built and Solomon had just held a wonderful dedication ceremony. Everyone was excited as they went home rejoicing in their hearts for all that God had done for them.

We have all been in those times. We can remember when God did something great, visible, and exciting. When it was all over we went home so full we could almost burst, and that is how these people felt when they went back to their tents.

As I considered that I thought about another temple dedication. This time it was in the time of Haggai and the temple was much smaller. Some rejoiced, but the old men, who had seen Solomon’s temple in its heyday wept.

It is easy for us to rejoice when we can see God’s work in a visible way like the people did here. It can be more challenging when we can’t see it so clearly and we still go home joyful and with our hearts full of joy.
Rejoicing in the great days doesn’t take much faith. Rejoicing in the little things does. We must remember to rejoice when we see an obvious work of God and even when we can’t. That is walking by faith and not by sight.

Incline our hearts

“That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.” - 1 Kings 8v58


Our hearts are not naturally inclined toward God. They always seem to be inclined away from God and toward the world. We tend to like “us” and the world and it is only by the help of the Holy Spirit that our hearts are ever inclined in His direction.

Only when our hearts are truly inclined toward Him can we hope to so what follows; walk in His way, and keep His commandments. Whereas at the beginning of the section there is a prayer, and at the end an instruction to what the people should do, “Let your heart be loyal to the Lord our God.”

What kind of heart do you have toward? What is its inclination? Will you be inclined to follow the Lord today or the desires of your own flesh and the world? Let God incline your heart and then be loyal to Him.

There has not failed one word of all his good promise

“Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.” - 1 Kings 8v56

Solomon looked back to God’s promise to Moses and realised that every word of God’s promises had come true. Nothing had failed and God had been faithful to His word.

There is great comfort in knowing that God keeps His promises. He will never fail for He is the God who cannot lie. In Hebrews 6 we find the account of God keeping all of His promises to Abraham based on His faith. God swore by Himself that He would keep His promises. In verse 18 we find the words that show why God keeps His promises – “it is impossible for God to lie.”
At salvation we received God’s promise to an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away. God is not going to go back on His promise. We can rest in absolute confidence that God will not fail in one word of His promise

Blessed be the Lord that has given rest

“Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.” - 1 Kings 8v56

Solomon concluded his dedicatory address with a prayer to God and a request for blessing for His people. He sets a wonderful pattern for us by beginning his prayer with thanksgiving. He blessed and thanked God for giving the people rest. After all of their wonderings, struggles, and trials God had granted rest to Israel in the land of Canaan and had allowed them to build a place for Him to dwell there. He this promised land they had a place where they could rest.

We know that the people were not content with that rest. In their desire to have more they sinned and rebelled against God losing the benefit of the perfect rest that God had provided for them.

How sad it is that we do not learn from Isreal. Jesus offers us His prefect rest when he says, “Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” He offers us perfect rest in Him. That rest is there for us no matter what storms of life we face. It is sad when we are so upset by the storm that we step right out into it instead of resting in Christ. When the storms of life are raging let us rest in Him, and not be content with the quasi-rest the world offers.

Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have built?” - 1 Kings 8v27


Solomon knew that the temple he had just built could not really hold God, but that God chose to come into the temple presence. There was no misconception, Solomon knew that God transcended time and space and nothing could contain Him.

It is amazing how often we try to put this infinite God into our little God box and make Him fit our mould or fit Him into our plans and our schedules. We try to limit God to what we understand and how we see things. God’s only limit is His perfect will and we cannot hope to understand that.

Our God will be no more bound by our human limitations on Him that He was by the walls of that temple. Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. Let us remember that our knowledge cannot contain Him either.

Except

For Wednesday 18th January

“And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.” - 1 Kings 3v3


Exceptions have always been a problem for God’s people. When the Israelites entered Canaan they got rid of all the enemies in the land except for the Gibeonites and a few other. When Saul defeated the Amalekites he destroyed everything except some of the livestock Here, Solomon love God and walked in the statutes of his father, except he still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high place. The exceptions always caused problems for those who allowed them.

God’s desire for our lives is that we live lives for Him without exception. We find it easy and expedient in our Christian lives to feel pretty comfortable in our Christian walk. We know that we are still sinners and that we are not going to reach perfection in our lifetimes. If we are not careful we can use that for an excuse to make exceptions in our lives. We say things like, “I am doing pretty well in may walk for the Lord except in my prayer life, or my devotional life, or with impure thoughts, or with materialism, or with lack of faith.”
We cannot live in constant guilt. However, we also cannot live content with the “excepts” in our lives. We must strive daily to live lives without exception for Him.

Let Your word be done

Let Your word be done


“And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.” - 1 Kings 8v26

After Solomon became king he set about the task of building God’s temple. When he finished that great task he held a service of dedication of the Temple to God. As part of that service he prayed these words. “Let Your word be done.” Solomon had enough confidence in the Lord to ask that God’s word be proven, verified, and accomplished.

These word remind me of Jesus’ word in th e model prayer, “Your will be done.” In both cases there is a surrender to God’s word and His will being accomplished. There is reliance on Him to carry out His word and do His will. Any self agenda is gone.

When we talk to the Lord we should have the same attitude. Out desire should not be that our will, our goals, or our agenda be accomplished, but that the Lord’s will and word be done.

Give me an understanding heart

For Thursday, 19th January

“Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” - 1 Kings 3v9

How do you think you would respond if God said, “I will give you anything you want?” I wonder how I would respond if I did not already know about Solomon.

Solomon was not perfect. We know from the rest of his life that he liked money, gold, fast chariots, and women. All of these things would cause him problems though out his life. Yet, when he had the chance, he did not ask for any of these things. He decided to ask God for wisdom.

Solomon was well aware of his weaknesses. For all of his problems, at this point he does the right thing.

God has already made all of His wisdom available to us in His word. Is wisdom as important to us as it was to Solomon?

Take heed to your ways

“That the LORD may continue his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.” - 1 Kings 2v4

David was very near death. He called his son Solomon, who was to be the next king to his side for some final words of instruction.

The words are directly applicable to the kings of Israel, but are sound wisdom for us as well. If we want to see success in our walk for him and we want to continue on in that walk we would do well to heed the same advice.

Take heed to our way
Walk in truth with all our hearts and souls

The first one is very important. It is so easy to just get on with our lives and not really pay attention to our walk. However, many times in the word of God we are told to take close heed to our lives, to keep our hearts with diligence, and similar instructions.

Living the Christian life does not just happen. It takes work and giving careful heed every single day.

His father had never rebuked him

“And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bore him after Absalom.” - 1 Kings 1v6

As David approached death the question of his successor came to the fore. Adonijah, who was probably the eldest son alive, assumed that he would be the next king. The Bible says that he “exalted himself” when he claimed the kingship for himself. Adonijah drew Joab and Abiathar to himself and raised any army to back up his claim.

There is a key problem here in that he exalted himself instead of being exalted by God. We see a hint of the root problem here in verse 6. “His father never displeased him at any time.” The New King James translates it this way; “His father had never rebuked him at any time.”

One area where David lacked was in fathering his sons. Here is part of the reason and a lesson for us all. David never did anything to displease his son Adonijah. As parents we often are afraid of rebuking or displeasing our children. We may be afraid that we are going to drive them away. Or, we may say that we love them too much to rebuke them. Or we use excuses like, “They’re only kids.”
David suffered the result of never displeasing his son. Adonijah was proud and haughty and he exalted himself to a place where God did not put him. As hard as it, we have an important role to play, and part of that is to cause of children displeasure at times. May we be sure that we do not neglect that task.

I will not offer a sacrifice of that which cost me nothing

“And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” - 2 Samuel 24v24

After the plague was stopped David knew that he had to offer a sacrifice. He went to the home of Araunah to try and by the threshing floor and the animals for the sacrifice. Araunah tried to give the things to David but he refused. He knew that a sacrifice had to cost him something or it would not be a sacrifice.

In Romans 12v1-2 we are called upon to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Sadly, too often Christians only want to sacrifice that which does not cost us anything. We are rarely willing to give up the things that really matter. Are we willing to give up what is costly? Will we give up our own desires and ambitions? Will we give up our plans? We will give up our children? Are we willing to give Him even that which is costly to us?

Let me fall into the hand of the Lord

“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.”
- 2 Samuel 24v14

For David’s sin of counting the people he was given a choice of punishment. He could have three years of famine, three months on being chased by the enemy, or three days of plague from God.

He knew his answer. He decided to through himself on God’s mercy for God is more merciful than man. The punishment was great, but David was still willing to trust God in the matter rather than to trust man.
Even though David knew that he would be punished he knew that God’s judgement would be just. Do we always trust that God will be just? Whenever God acts we must have the faith to believe that He is doing what is right. Are we willing to fall into God’s hands?

David’s heart condemned him

“And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.” - 2 Samuel 24v10

David never did grow into perfection. Even now, at the very end of his life, he had a few problems with trusting God completely. God told David to trust him and not worry about his numbers, but David went ahead and called for a census anyway.

Immediately his heart was smitten. He knew he had acted foolishly and sinned against god by not trusting Him. He made no excuses; he just admitted his sin and foolishness. One thing we can admire about David is that when he was wrong he admitted it, he never tried to make any kind of excuse. That sets an example for us when we are guilty of sin.
There is even a better blessing. David did not know the full forgiveness offered by Christ. He had to deal with his guilt, for there was no Holy Spirit to removed the sin and the guilt. In Christ we have the blessing of sweet forgiveness and there is no need for our heart to condemn us as David’s did. We must repent and forsake our sin, but also know that the blood of Jesus Christ covers our sins, and our hearts can no longer condemn us. John 3v20-21 gives us this blessed knowledge, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”

Therefore I will give thanks

“Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.” - 2 Samuel 22v50

David had a proper attitude toward God and all that He had done for him. He recounted all of the great victories he had been given and all that he had accomplished. Many times we can take it for granted when God does those things for us.

After we are saved a few years we can grow accustomed to God doing things for us. We must be alert to avoid this from happening.

Every victory we have, everything we accomplish, and every blessing we receive is from the Lord. We must never forget that it by the mercy of the Lord that we are not consumed daily. Thanksgiving must be a part of our lives. Lord, remind us to be thankful Christians.

You are my lamp, O Lord

“For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.” - 2 Samuel 22v29

It often seems like the world gets darker and darker by the day. Our society seems to be in a state of moral collapse. Sometimes it seems like any light is just a glimmer.

We are going to find no light in the dark world on its own. We live in a day when the prince of darkness has great power and control. The wonderful thing is that our Lord does not leave us without light in these days of darkness. In the Psalms we read that God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths. Here David says that God Himself is his light.

We have a Light we can depend on every day. We need never walk in darkness. If we do we will stumble and fall. God has made Himself a light for us. He will be our lamp and lighten our paths through the darkness.
We must avail ourselves of His light. Lets be sure that we turn on that light as we go into the darkness of this present age.

The Lord delighted in me

“He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.” - 2 Samuel 22v20

What an amazing truth it is that the perfect, holy creator of the universe could possibly delight in a miserable wretched sinner like me. David had all kinds of flaws and weaknesses in his life. He was just as human as any of us and yet he could rejoice in that God delighted in him.

When we are His children we have the blessed knowledge that God delights in us just as we delight in our children. Think about the amazing fact today that God Himself, in all His glory, chooses to delight in us. What a blessing!

My cry entered into His ears

“In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.” – 2 Samuel 22v7

As David looked back over His life he recalled many times when his life had been in danger. He had times when it seemed like there was no way out. He had learned that in those times he had one thing he could always do, he could always call upon the Lord.

Anyone can call upon the Lord. Most people would do so in times of trouble. Calling upon the Lord is not enough though. Getting His attention is a different matter. David knew that he could not only call out to the Lord, he also knew that God would hear his prayer.

David put it this way, “My cry did enter into His ears.” As I read this I am amazed that God would allow my cries to enter into His ears. After all, this is the God Who created the universe. This is the God Who is holy, holy, holy. This is the God Who dwells in the High and Holy place. Yet, he allows the cries of a sinful man to enter into His ears.
Why would he holy, holy, holy God allow my cries to enter into His ears? There is one reason? He loves me. I am a part of His creation and He loves me so much that He hears my cries in my time of need. What an amazing, loving God we have who would give us an audience and let our cries enter into His ears.

I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised

“I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.” – 2 Samuel 22v4


As David approached the end of his life he composed a beautiful song of praise that summarised his life. David had suffered many kinds of ups and downs in his life.

He knew one thing for sure; God was worthy of praise. He knew that because of that he could call upon the Lord with confidence that He would do the delivering. God’s deliverance was not always in the form that David might have like, but that did not change the fact that God was and is worthy to be praised.

Let us give Him the praise He is due!

Reconciliation

“And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan; And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.” – 2 Samuel 19v18-20

There is more to David’s decision to not respond to Shimei then what we first read. Later, after the death of David’s son Shimei made his way back to David. Shimei remembered that David had not responded to his taunts and cursings. David had decided to let God sort out the situation and not take things into his own hands.

Now Shimei fell down and honoured King David. He acknowledged his sin and his offence. Because of David’s response he had gained an ally who might have been an enemy.

Lets learn from David’s example. If he had killed Shimei he would have lost this opportunity to make an ally. Who knows what the future may hold for those whom we choose to forgive?

David’s love for his son

“And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” – 2 Samuel 18v33

The study of David is an amazing character study. We see his human weakness, but we also see some prevailing attitudes that permeate his life. One of those, after the situation with Nabal, was his ability to overlook the attacks and violence of others against him.

Absalom’s rebellion just kept growing. Civil war had broken out and Absalom turned the hearts of Israel against David. Absalom and his army were in open warfare with David and his men, but suddenly Absalom was killed in battle. Joab saw him hanging by his hair from a tree and killed him with his arrows.

A messenger ran to David with what he assumed would be good news. When he told David that his enemy Absalom was dead David, instead of rejoicing, mourned at the death of his son. He was not an enemy, but his own child.
David had the ability to trust God in the face of his enemies. This only comes when we trust God completely with the results and learn to take our hands of f of difficult circumstance and human opposition.

It may be that the Lord will do me good

“It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.” – 2 Samuel 16v12

David was a man under attack from all sides. His son Absalom was raising an army to fight against him. Civil war was breaking out and the nation was in turmoil. It had to seem like everyone was against him.

A Benjamite named Shimei cursed David as king. The last time something like this happened was with Nabal and that time it was only Abigail’s intervention that kep David from killing Nabal.

This time David was a broken man. His sin with Bathsheba and the results of it had knocked out some of his pride. This time he decided to leave it an trust God with the results. He did not take revenge on Shimei, but depended on God to bless him in spite of the cursing.

When we finally learn to trust God man’s words and attacks mean little. When we are looking to Him, man’s taunts will not illicit our human response.

More consequences of sin

2 Samuel 12

The consequences of David’s sin are much more than the death of a child. His sin affected his whole family.

Sensual lust was a real problem for David. Sadly, this same problem was passed on to at least one of his children. The lust was so great that his son Amnon raped his daughter Dinah. As a result of the rape Absalom, another son, killed Amnon.

Let us be aware just how serious our undealt with sin can be. Its consequences can be far reaching. It may even affect the most precious things God gives us, our children.

The child died … and David worshipped the Lord

“And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead? But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.” – 2 Samuel 12v18-20

David was devastated by his sin. God had already told him that part of the consequences of his sin would be that the child of their sin would die. When Bathsheba’s child was born God struck him and he became ill.

David fasted and prayed for the child. He asked God to show mercy and let the child live. When the child was seven days old he died. The servants were afraid to tell David because they did not know how he would take the news.

When David found out, he got up, washed and anointed himself, and went to worship the Lord. David’s prayers were not answered the way he hoped they would be. The child was not healed. Instead he died. David however did not let that affect His view of God. God is always due our worship no matter what He does or how we perceive His actions.

How do we respond when God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we see fit? God always does the right thing and is ALWAYS worthy of our worship.

The consequences of sin

“And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.” - 2 Samuel 12v13-14

When King David was clearly confronted with his sin he admitted it and confessed it. Nathan made it clear that God had forgiven him and put his sin away. Yet there would still be consequences to his sin. Forgiveness never insures a cancellation of the results of sin.

David’s life would not be the same after this sin. Spiritually and eternally his sin was forgiven, but he would suffer the physical results of it,

When we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Praise the Lord for His forgiveness. However sin is not something we should ever take lightly. It may very have long lasting results here on earth.

Thou art the man

“And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man …” - 2 Samuel 1v7

Things went along nice and smoothly for King David. He had covered over his sin and things were back to normal in the palace with yet another wife.

One day the prophet Nathan came to see the king. He told him a story about a rich man who had taken advantage of a poor man by taking his sheep. The king’s response was justifiable anger – “The man must be killed for his action!”

The Nathan said for little words that must have hit David like a ton of bricks – “You are the man!” One can almost sense David’s feelings when he heard these words. He knew immediately what Nathan was talking about. The sin he thought he had so carefully hidden was now out in the open. He could not hide them from God and now his sin was to be judged.

I recently saw a television programme about a man who had killed another twenty years previous to the story. At the time of the murder he was on drugs, but had sorted his life out. Eventually however, due to a thorough investigation of the crime scene the facts time to light and the murderer went to jail. This was a very clear picture of a Bible truth David had forgotten, “Be sure your sins will find you out!”