David's Suffering

David: Man of Prayer PART X
14 June 2015
Rev. Ed Sirya

2Samuel 12: 15-23
15After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill.  16David pleaded with God for the child.  He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.  17The 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.

18On 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."

19David 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."

20Then 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.

21His 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!"

22He 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.'  23But 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."

PROBLEM OF SUFFERING
--David is initially in denial about suffering and takes God too lightly
--David is filled with sorrow and quickly repents.
--David still suffers and God uses it to change him.
--Suffering isn't always punishment from God.
--v.13 The Lord has taken away your sin and you won't die...but your son will die.
--Suffering can cause us to resent God.
--Suffering isn't condemnation.

POWER OF SUFFERING
--David showed contempt for the Lord and his son dies.
--David was the forgotten son out in the field and God made him great.
--Suffering can be a refining process from God.
--Suffering can make us stronger or weaker.
--Our true beliefs may come out when we are on the floor suffering.
--Trauma shatters belief systems and forces people to put their lives back together.
--God showed mercy towards David.
--We can know we're forgiven but not act like it.
--Sin is loving things more than God.

PROMISE OF SUFFERING
--In suffering, David responds in prayer and was deeper into the arms of God.
--David remembered a love that would not let him go.
--v.22...the Lord may be gracious--All is a blessing.
--v.20...David went to the House of the Lord, not his own house.
--When we suffer, we must put ourselves in the path of beauty.
--David's second son with Bathsheeba was Solomon which led to the line of Jesus.
--The point of life is not comfort--it's to glorify God.
--God understands our suffering because He suffered through Jesus.