This is the day the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! I am loving this Spring weather, enjoying the breeze and listening to my wind chimes. This morning my “fur babies” the goats 🐐 got their mani-pedi from the farrier. That’s a fancy word for “the goat hoof trimming guy”. They are growing so much it’s crazy. Never did I think I’d actually own goats and NOT live on a farm. See, it’s all in God’s control. I just like starting my blogs with bits and pieces about my day. You might as well know who the person is behind the posts right? Tomorrow my family and in laws plus Framily are coming for Easter dinner. We live in a smaller home so I’m nervous about having so many people but they say a home isn’t too small to hold all this love.
The next woman in the family tree of Jesus is Bathsheba. We left off with Ruth wife of Boaz, who had a son Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David. David as in David and Goliath, David the King of Israel. I’d like to give you a little back story on David in that prior to Bathsheba he had seven other wives. He had a total of 18 children. He had so many wives because it was his way of gaining access to different groups and nations. (Pretty sneaky). He was the son of Jesse and Nitzevet. David was a Shepherd who initially was known for his music. (He wrote almost all of the Psalms). After David killed Goliath, he became close to King Saul and his son Jonathan. Jonathan eventually turned on David because he was afraid he was trying to steal his place as future King. Saul and Jonathan were eventually killed in a battle and David was crowned The King. David conquered Jerusalem and brought back the Arch of the Covenant to the city established by Saul.
What in the world does all this have to do with Bathsheba? Well, I’m glad you asked! During a siege of the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David remained in Jerusalem. There he saw the wife of a Hittite man named Uriah bathing. She’s beautiful!! He has her brought to him and she becomes pregnant. The Bible isn’t clear if this was consensual or not. David’s hope was that Uriah would come home from battle in time to think the child was his. Uriah didn’t return so David devised a plan to have him killed in battle. This then let things open for him to slide in and marry Bathsheba. Nathan a prophet, told David that he saw a prophecy that David’s son would die, as David asked forgiveness for what happened to Bathsheba and Uriah however his son would die instead. It did come true according to the Bible that his son Absolam to a different wife did die. David in his old age and bed ridden agreed to crown his son Solomon as King at the request of Bathsheba and Nathan. It was his last request to Solomon to walk in the ways of God.
What did I learn from David and Bathsheba? Just because we ask forgiveness from God doesn’t mean our sin is nullified like it didn’t happen. However, God does look how we move forward afterwards. Did we learn from our mistakes? Are we serving him?
No one is perfect. Try as we might, everyone messes up at some point. Is sin an accident? Or is sin something that happens to bring us closer to God by giving us a wake up call? God can see us straying further away from him and like a good shepherd herds us back into his fold. Instead of only calling upon him though during these times of trouble, we need to learn to rely on him every day. You can’t take medication intended for daily use then only use it when you feel like it and expect it to magically work. I’ve made mistakes and I’ve asked forgiveness for them. Did I pay the price? Absolutely. However, I also learned that he’s asking of me to be his faithful servant. To share his word and my experiences with others. To bring you back into the fold.
Lord, thank you for the lessons that I’ve learned. No matter how difficult the road was to get here, I know that you never forgot me. It took all the patience I had to stay the course. Thank you for allowing me to complete the promises I made to you. Amen
NOTE:
My favorite Psalm is Psalms 103. I encourage you to read it. One of my favorite Christian bands ”Casting Crowns” wrote a song about Psalms 103. You can watch the backstory here: https://youtu.be/_BPNLi1TPXE
Here is the link for the original video here to enjoy the song in its entirety. https://youtu.be/DjNZf878ISQ
The Carpenter’s Daughter 