Posted on January 7, 2021 by temeritydowell

David was the richest man in the country. He was royalty. He owned a large home and had many servants at his beck and call. David was a good man, but he had his faults, too. The most grievous fault was lust. Even though he had many women around him to make him happy, there was but one that he wanted – the wife of a friend.

So he did the unthinkable. He had the friend murdered and took his wife for his own. She was a beautiful woman and made David very happy. Soon they had a child.

One day a special guest paid a visit and was able to point out to David that he had taken a woman that was not his and had her rightful husband killed. David quickly admitted his guilt. The guest told David that there would be a price to pay for his behavior and predicted that the son his wife had given birth to would soon die.

David was beside himself with grief! How could this man possibly know that David’s young son would die? But soon enough, the baby became very sick.

David prayed day and night. He cried out to the Lord and begged for the child to be spared. He didn’t eat or sleep for days. He was in so much anguish that even his servants were afraid that David would take drastic measures and end his own life. This would have been a horrific blow to the country as David was very important to their safety and well-being.

After the child had been sick for a week, he passed away. That’s when David did the completely unexpected thing – he stopped grieving. He got up, put on clean clothes, went to his synagogue and worshipped, then came home and asked his servants to bring him a meal.

This confused those around him. They asked him why he had grieved with such anguish while the child was alive, but conducted himself completely normally after the boy had died. David explained that while the child had been alive he did everything he knew to do in order to save the child. He prayed, he cried, he begged and pleaded with the Lord to spare the child’s life. But David knew that once the child had died that the Lord had spoken and that there was nothing else he could do. In other words, David had done all he could, everything he could, and that the only thing he could do at this point would be to go about his life and honor the Lord now.

Dear Reader, this story of King David (yes, the one in the Bible who was the king of Israel and the father of another son, Solomon)¹ is very similar to the one we face today. Most people just don’t realize it yet.

It is highly probable that our constitutional republic has died. Indeed, this has been a “baby” to me and many other patriots for years. Some have poured their heart and soul into legislative affairs, elections, policy, and education in an effort to keep the “child” alive. Yet earlier today, our beloved Capitol building was attacked by people who apparently wanted to destroy it rather than save it. If we had just looked, scripture told us this would happen. So did history.

If you were, like me, hopeful that court cases would be heard, logic would rule in debates, and honesty and integrity would prevail, you may very well be devastated right now. But this writer is not. While some trust in chariots and horses² – or courts and lawmakers – scripture admonishes us to trust in the Lord our God.

Solomon, who was the child born to David and his wife after the death of their first son, was the teacher who dictated Ecclesiastes. In Chapter 3, verse 4, he states there is a time to mourn. I have been mourning the loss of our constitutional republic for years as I’ve watched it be taken apart by ridiculous laws and rules. I’ve grieved over the millions of lives lost due to abortion. I’ve agonized over the loss of freedom as sheep blindly followed anyone with a rod and agreed to wear masks, sit at home, and fear everything as our economy fell to pieces. I’ve lamented the loss of friendships of mine and others over petty squabbles regarding quarantines, lock downs, elections, and whose lives matter.

But that same verse also says that there is also a time to dance. Metaphorically speaking, that means there is a time for celebration. But for some of us, dancing is what we do in the normal course of our day.

Therefore, I’m choosing to take the advice of both King David and King Solomon. I’ve gotten up out of my bed of despair. I put on fresh clothes each morning, I pray, worship, and I eat my breakfast. Then I go about the business of my day, working harder than I ever have. The child may be dead, but I am not. I choose to keep going, and believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.³

~Temerity Dowell

¹See 2 Samuel 12: 1-23

²Psalm 20:7 (a passage written by King David)

³See Psalm 27:13 (another passage written by King David)

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL ARTICLES

https://temeritydowell.wordpress.com/2021/01/07/a-time-to-mourn-and-a-time-to-dance/?fbclid=IwAR3YRhw4VNawh6YVD0qB3G_Us_7VwaMNP6v_ybmZuPEuV6LxiG12Yxz9k_w