The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/2_samuel/12.htm

Before I start, there’s one thing from 2 Samuel 11 I forgot to note. Verse 17 ends with “But the thing that David had done displeased[f] the Lord.”

David had committed adultery, then he killed the husband of his mistress to cover up the crime. And this “displeased” the Lord.

What happened to the Lord’s wrath? What happened to God killing the sinners? Uzzah simply touched the Ark of the Covenant, and God “killed” him! Or was it like I surmised, the ark was Holy, the ark was full of God’s Glory, and God didn’t kill Uzzah, Uzzah simply wasn’t righteous enough to withstand the Glory of God.

Surely if Uzzah was killed simply for touching the ark, wouldn’t God kill David for committing adultery and murder? This is why I believe that God is Love, God is merciful, God has the same character as Jesus, and it is highly possible that mortal men, with human brains, were either under great stress from the positions they held, or their perception of God was skewed because that did not have the luxury of listening to the teachings of Jesus, and they have misinterpreted what they witnessed. I also believe that there are so many differences between the definition of Hebrew word and the English language, that we get caught up in misperceiving scripture as well. We have prejudices…when we hear a word, we automatically think of the meaning and definition we were taught from childhood, without considering other definitions with an open mind.

There is simply no way that the God we serve is angry and vengeful, and I’ll say it again…if He is, why would we want to live in Heaven for eternity with Him?

Now, on to Chapter 12. And no, David does not go unpunished.

David was convicted of his sins, but not until the Lord sent Nathan the profit to point them out to David. And once Nathan did, David realized his sins and he was very distraught.

How many of us take our sins lightly? How many of us sin, we say a quick “I’m sorry Lord” up to Heaven, then go on about our lives as if nothing had happened. David was such a man of God that he was distraught with himself over what he had done.

I once followed another blog, similar to mind, in which the author once said, “You really can’t get close to Jesus until you’ve laid on the bathroom floor, crying, and desperate to seek God’s mercy.” Yet, most of us sin, then go on with lour lives without a moment of interuption.

What scripture says is that God forgave David of his sins, but David’s son, the one that was the result of David and Bathsheba’s interlude, would die. And it is written as if that was David’s punishment. But that would mean God killed the child to punish David, and once again, do we believe that God kills children?

Nathan was a prophet, and I believe he could see into the future, seeing the death of David’s child. But it wasn’t at the hand of God, it was at the hand of Satan.

Remember when Satan tested Job? Satan had to have God’s permission to do that. God gave Satan permission as long as he didn’t kill job. So why couldn’t Satan simply torture and kill Job? Because Job had the protection of God. God had formed a “hedge of protection” around Job, protecting him from Satan. And if you turn from God, God can remove that protection and allow Satan to have his way with you.

It happened to Saul. Saul turned from God, stopped praying, stopped conferring with God before he went into battle, stopped fulfilling God’s Will and started doing his own. And as a result, God took the hedge of protection away from Saul. He allowed Saul to be defeated by his enemies. He allowed Satan to enter Saul’s head and cause him mental illness. Had Saul remained faithful to God, God would have continued to protect Saul from Satan, and Saul would have been okay.

Now David has sinned. David at one time was faithful to God. He fought a giant trusting that God was on his side; God was his strength. Remember Joshua, “Be courageous, for I am with you.” If God is with you, you’ll be fine, but if you ignore God, he will remove his blessings from you. His blessings are always there should you choose to turn back to God and accept them, but when you separate yourself from God, you separate yourself from His blessings as well.

Because of David’s grave sins, God removed His “hedge of protection”, and Satan was able to step in and kill David’s baby.

Satan was hoping that that would cause David to turn from God. Satan was hoping that the David would blame God for the death of his child, making David further separate himself from God. But that didn’t happen. David returned to God and once again became a faithful servant. David was smart enough to know that the death of his own child was his own doing, caused by his own sin.

I drifted away from God when I was in high school. I can blame the small church I attended, I can blame the lack of friends at the church, the lack of youth programs to keep me engaged. But in truth, it was me that drifted away, it wasn’t the churches fault. And even though I never stopped believing in God, and even though I didn’t stop praying (when I wanted something), I wasn’t close to God. I didn’t worship. I didn’t obey His laws.

Then my wife was diagnosed with a terminal health problem. She had a bad mitral valve which lets blood flow from the atrium to the ventricles. By science, she should have had a very short life. She ended up homebound for two years, attached to an oxygen machine. A normal mitral valve allows a flow of blood about the size of a quarter through the valve…my wife’s valve was so blocked it only allowed 1 centimeter of blood to flow.

So I turned back to God. I started praying. I started studying the Bible. I started being a “good boy”…but I didn’t turn back to God out of a love for God, I turned back to God hoping he would save my wife’s life. And praise Him, He did give me an extra two years that I likely wouldn’t have had otherwise.

My biggest fear was that when my wife died, I would be angry with God. I would be mad that He hadn’t saved my wife’s life, that He allowed her to die from her ailment. But I thought long and hard about it, and I realized that it wasn’t God’s fault that we were in this position, it was because we had separated ourselves from Him. We paid Him no attention, and He took His “hedge of protection” from us. And justly so. And it allowed Satan to come in. And while you can say Satan wanted to kill my wife, I believe his true motive is to turn people away from God, to hurt God Himself.

So I figured out that if I became angry with God, I would be fulfilling Satan’s mission. And that, I didn’t want to do. And truthfully, God gave me two more years with my wife than she would have had otherwise. So I was happy with God, thankful for His blessing. And yes, I grieved my wife’s death, but I certainly didn’t blame God. It wasn’t His fault. He was there all along, waiting for me to come back to Him, just like the prodigal son we’ll study about later.

If bad things happen in your life, it’s likely your own fault. This is not to say that everything bad is God’s fault…much of it is for our own good, whether we recognize it or not, whether we know the real purpose of it. Like I’ve said before, I had a doctor’s appointment one morning, and when I went to leave, I found I had a flat tire. I could have been angry that I was put in such a position. But I wasn’t…I simply went inside, phoned the doctor, and postponed my appointment. How did I know that had my tire been okay, that I might have gotten involved in a fatal car accident? How did I know that perhaps something else bad might have happened along the way, and that God gave me that flat tire to make me stay home and protect me?

As they say, God works in mysterious ways. Things will happen that we don’t understand, but it is all God’s Will. Let’s just make sure we remain close to God so that we know His Will is in our best interest. Stay close to God to keep Satan at bay.

And once again, I’ve rambled way too long. Please forgive me.