There is one more observation that can be made concerning King David's reaction to the death of his infant son in 2 Samuel 12:"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."
In this passage David first professes a statement of reality: his child had died, and no amount of fasting or weeping could possibly bring him back to life. Death entered the world in Genesis 3, and has been wreaking havoc on this earth since then. Now it is David's turn to feel the effects of the Fall.
But David also expresses a profession of faith here; "I shall go to him." Is David just saying that he would go to the grave one day, just like his child went to the grave? What kind of comfort would that be to anyone? The very next verse tells us that David comforted Bathsheba, the child's mother, after this sad loss. What comfort could David have given? He believed what he wrote in Psalm 23, that goodness and mercy would follow him all the days of his life, and that he would "dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
David's infant son went to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. He would not return to David, but David knew that one day he would go to him in Heaven.
Praise be to God for there is much in His word that brings us HOPE, HEALING, MERCY, PEACE. There is a passionate longing to cling to the One who will be our Helper as we walk on this pilgrimage toward our final, eternal home where we will once again join our loved ones. But we must know Jesus, for He is the Ladder, the Narrow Gate, the Way to the Father in heaven. All the more reason to share the gospel which is our only hope for salvation and everlasting life with our loved ones.
ReplyDeleteCarry on Candy, your message is of the utmost importance, spread the seeds of understanding what our hope lies in that gives us the confidence to carry on with life when someone we so deeply loved and wrapped our lives around has been slowly or suddenly taken from this earth. God Bless your ministry in Greif Share. DS