Year One, September 25

He Will Gather the Lambs in His Arms1

2 Samuel 12:15-23

15Then Nathan went to his house.

And the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. (God is true to his word, whether he threatens or promises.) 16David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. (We are allowed to pray about difficulties that are about to happen. If David was not forbidden to pray for mercy even after the Lord had declared what he was going to do, how much more may we plead to God when his will is still unknown?) 17And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. (They feared for his health, but he was ready to sacrifice himself for his poor suffering baby. He was a tender father. It pierced him to the heart to see his child suffering because of the father’s sin. Perhaps it was during this time that David came to the point of fully repenting and getting back the smile of his heavenly Father)

18On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate.

While the child was still alive David pleaded for its life. But after he died David immediately submitted to the divine will. He also seems to have been aware that God had pardoned him through his faith in the atoning sacrifice. He went again to the house of the Lord to worship in humble appreciation of his God. Some people mourn so long after the loss of a child that they appear to be angry with God and to be carrying on a rebellion against him. This was not the way David acted.

21Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” (People who have not been taught by God cannot understand why believers act the way they do. Believers do not rejoice the way the world does and do not mourn the way the world does. Their feelings have full play, but those feelings understand that God is always in control. Dependable Christians are not overly influenced by outward circumstances and this makes them appear odd and strange.) 22He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

A great deal is suggested by the words, “I shall go to him.” David could not have thought his child had been annihilated. David’s hope was not for annihilation. Even less could David have imagined that the child was suffering in hell. He did not expect to be in hell when he died. David believed that his baby was in heaven and that he would meet him there. We also believe that all the dear little ones who die in infancy are in glory. We say all the little ones, because this child was the offspring of shame, and if it is where David is now, we feel sure that all other departed infants are there also.

“Millions of infant souls compose the family above.”2

By the death of his baby the first blow of the rod fell on David, and throughout the remainder of his life his trials increased.

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¹ Isaiah 40:11

² These words are from a hymn written by Samuel Stennett (1727-1795) that is found in a Selection of Hymns compiled by John Rippon in 1787. John Rippon preceded Spurgeon as pastor of his church in London.