2 Samuel 12:21

New International Version (NIV)

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!”

For meditation

The boy is dead! But, who will announce it to him? So, there they stand, lost in their thoughts. Heaven has turned down his fervent plea for mercy, and now he has to deal with the pain of child death. What’s he going to do? But, he is discerning! He gets up, bathes, dresses and goes to the house of God to worship.

“Now, give me something to eat”, David says.

“Wait a minute, King! What’s all that about? Shouldn’t you be upset with God? Your son is dead! God didn’t care. We were worried about you, considering your situation when the boy was sick. But this calm, worshiping, and dinning man you’ve become; we don’t recognize”, his servants said.

“What can I do now? He is God and He still reigns. I continue under His rule, no matter my circumstances. Because He is faithful, I can still trust Him and look forward to meeting my son again someday. So, I thank and praise Him for who He is and His faultless deeds; that somehow, His peace may reign in my household.”

 Isn’t that wonderful?

A man after God’s own heart! Bereaved, yet content in the sovereign God! A perfect picture of 1 Thessalonians 5:17!

1. Who said thanking God is easy when things turn south and our circumstances become bitter?
2. Isn’t it hypocritical? I mean, shouldn’t we be morose and fussing and cursing?
3. So, how could anyone have looked at David’s circumstances and suggested he went to the temple to worship and thank God for it? How could anybody have told him it’s God’s will for him? How insensitive would that have been? No one could; yet that’s what David did!
4. Could it be a display of faith in a sovereign and faithful God? Did David somehow understand that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rm. 8:28)?
5. Is it possible for us to look to the Lord, through David’s example, for strength to sail through our most difficult circumstances? Can we embrace the power of praise with Paul and Silas in their midnight session with Christ in the Philippian jail (Acts 16:25)?

I pray we embrace God’s grace and abandon it all to Christ Jesus for comfort and strength.

May we never allow our pain to drive our faith in our difficult moments; but may we perfectly trust in God’s goodness at all times in Christ Jesus.

Thanking God in all circumstances is Christ-like.

Shalom