David had sinned against man and God. He slept with someone's wife, and got her pregnant. To cover his sin, he schemed and schemed, until he finally schemed the death trap of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. Bathsheba was the married woman David sinned with.
God sent Nathan to David to reprimand him. This was after David had successfully plotted the death of Uriah and married Bathsheba. Bathsheba had given birth to the baby David and her had conceived in sin. After Nathan's rebuke, God struck David's and Bathsheba's baby with sickness.
2 Samuel 12:13-25
Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD, the son born to you will die.”
After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
The lesson to learn from the above scripture is that we can learn from the past, however must endeavour to let go the past. David had sinned seriously against Uriah and God. He had messed up Bathsheba's life, and had brought doom upon an innocent child. He could have held a perpetual pity party, but did not. He showed deep repentance, and even prayed for God's mercy to heal his child. God had judged David's sin, so the baby died. David was wise, he understood that one should not cry over spilt milk. He also knew when to let go things he could not change. He accepted God's correction and will, and moved on joyfully.
When David put his sinful past behind him, and accepted God's forgiveness, he brought newness into his marriage with Bathsheba. A union which commenced wrongly produced one of the world's wisest men - King Solomon. This was possible because David though fallible had a positive attitude towards God and life. When we give our past to God, we must also accept the forgiveness He renders, and walk away from our past and its guilt, glories and consequences. We ought to allow God to do a new thing in our life.
Keep the past behind you - that's where it belongs!
WHAT IS NEXT?
