Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 11-12; Psalm 51; Matthew 21
Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; 25 and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.
Observation: I never really noticed this before but God told David and Bathsheba that they were to name their son Jedidiah. They had named him Solomon but God sent word to them to change it. But they did not do what the Lord told them to do. They stuck with their choice and did not change it to the name the Lord had given them. This strikes me as quite odd and really brazen, especially given the situation surrounding the birth of this young lad. You would think that after falling into such gross sin and causing so much pain to so many people, that David would want to be very careful about obeying the Lord's instructions exactly. But apparently, he just doesn't seem to pay any attention at all because this name does not appear anywhere else in the Bible. But I wonder what might have been different for Solomon if he had been given the name Jedidiah which means "loved by the Lord." Maybe such a name would have caused him to have a greater love for God. No one knows --
Application: But I do know that the wisest course is obeying the Lord fully. Any thought that there are no consequences in disregarding any part of the Lord's instructions is a lie. You cannot disobey God without some negative impact in your life and/or the life of others.
Prayer: Lord, help us to pay attention to what You say and to do it. May be not be lax in listening to You and carrying out Your words to us. We want to walk in the fullness of Your blessing and we know that to do that, we have to fully follow what You say.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 comment:
This story always amazes me. God is so displeased with David's sin in committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband murdered so that he can have her (11:27) and yet He always adjusts His will so that He can redeem even our mistakes. Clearly, God's will wasn't for David and Bathsheba to marry in the first place. But once the deed is done, God forgives him and blesses the union with a child whom He loves. In fact, Solomon becomes the next king. Amazing grace indeed. It's one of the best examples in scripture of the grace of God and His ability to redeem our sin and rebellion. Ps. 51 (the Psalm where David repents before God for his sin) is also a key componenet to this. A complete repentance, admitting full responsibility for sin, makes it easy for God to do His full redeeming work. I've seen Him do it in smaller doses for people until they fully repent. He leaves some consequences out there to "bring them around". David certainly had his share of them but God's amazing redemption of a situation that was completely out of His will and done in complete rebellion to Him is what is truly incredible about this story.
Post a Comment