Loss of a Child
Later the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s [k]widow bore to David, so that he was very sick. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child; and David fasted and went and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his household stood beside him in order to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat food with them. 18 Then it happened on the seventh day that the child died. And David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was still alive, we spoke to him and he did not listen to [l]us. How then can we tell him that the child is dead, since he might do himself harm?” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; so David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And they said, “He is dead.” 20 So David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and when he asked, they served him food, and he ate.
21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was [m]alive; but when the child died, you got up and ate food.” 22 And he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ 23 But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I am going to him, but he will not return to me.”
Solomon Born
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and slept with her; and she gave birth to a son, and [n]he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him, 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him [o]Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.
David’s response to death is a bit amazing. Not just because of the contrast in how he fasted and pleaded with God for the child, and then went back to life as normal afterward.
Rather, it is the underlying reason that David went back to life as usual. It’s easy to miss this as he says in verse 23, “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I am going to him…” And stop right there!
David knew death was not the end. Though it was final in this physical realm, David knew that the only way to see his child again was after his own death when he was in heaven.
There is no fear in that, and no despair. It is accepting the fact that death must come to us all, but it is NOT the END. God did not create us simply to watch us wither away and fade into nothing. He created us for more, and He created us to live with Him for eternity. Anything less is a cheat and a scam. Our destiny, if we will choose it, is to walk and talk with the One who created the Universe. Not just for a day or a season, but forever.
Life on this earth might be amazing, or it might be heartbreaking, but it is a mere breath in the face of our eternal future. Keep moving forward, and look to a future that is unlike anything we have ever known.