These past few days, as I’ve prayed for the Lord to bring in the remaining funds needed to get me back to Japan by today, Easter Sunday, this story has been on my heart. It’s in II Samuel 12. David has seen Bathsheba, taken her for himself, gotten her pregnant, had her husband killed, and been convicted by Nathan the prophet’s story. And Nathan has told him that the Lord is going to take the life of the son Bathsheba is bearing him. In response, it says that David:
…therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead…
So intense was his intercession, they were afraid David would hurt himself at the news, but here’s how David responded:
Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate.
When his servants questioned this strange response he said:
“While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows 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 will not return to me.”
Until the moment he knew the Lord’s answer, he pleaded intently with the Lord. And when the Lord answered, he got up and went to worship, even though the Lord said ‘No’.
I’ve asked the Lord to give me this heart – to plead intensely, with hope, up until I knew His answer to this plea and then, if He said ‘Yes’, to respond with gratitude and praise. And if He said ‘No’ (to bringing in all these funds by Easter)…to respond with gratitude and praise. Because our God is always good. And He is always worthy of praise.
Written April 2020