2 Samuel 12:24
24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
Our verse today is a reminder of the kindness and longsuffering nature of God, and that his forgiveness holds no grudges. It shows us that if we are a child of God even while suffering the blows of God's Chastening there is still comfort, "David comforted Bathsheba." Like we chasten our children one moment and then take them up in our arms the next so Does God with his children. The same hand that had taken one child in an act of Sovereign judgment now gives another in an act of lovingkindness. I am thankful that we have a father who chastens, but thank God that even before the chastening has finished he is already wrapping us up in his arms to comfort us again. Who could bear the frown of God if there would never be another moment of peace with him? That will be one of the hell's of hell, to bear the frown of God and suffer his hot displeasure for all eternity. We as children of God, only know his frown for moments, and when those moments are over we feel his sweet embrace again.
Notice how God has taken the illegitimate and now treats it as legitimate, I say this because Bathsheba is called "his wife" and not his mistress. She had been his paramour, a secret sin that David hoped to cover up and never have to speak of or give an account of, but what was done in the dark was brought to the light. There was nothing legitimate about what David did, but now despite all the mess of circumstances, she is indeed his wife. He now lays with her, as in times past but now with all the sins brought to light, and nothing is hidden and God blesses this union that he cursed in days gone by. I've known many marriages that came about by horrible circumstances, sin brought them together, it started as an affair, or as a pleasurable rendevous and sometime later, God saved them, or brought them back to a place of repentance and all the decisions they had made in sin they must still deal with but in the mess of circumstances God has taken these marriages that started on the wrong foot and has blessed them and made them legitimate. Truly, there is nothing too hard for God. David was at such peace with this child's birth, that he named him Solomon, that is, Peaceful. God had restored the joy of David's salvation, and although the whips of chastening are nowhere near done, God's loving hand is once again felt and seen in the life of David.
Lastly, to erase any doubts about how God felt about this he tells us, "And the LORD loved him." Can you imagine the whispers around Israel? "I heard they having another child" another would reply, "I bet it will die like the other one." God does not whisper his love for SOlomon, but records it in his word and all SOlomons life shows it, so much that no one could look at SOlomon and wonder if He was loved of the Lord, God hushed all the whispers that perhaps God did not love him. In the following verse God sends Nathan the prophet to name this child, and the Name given of the LORD is Jedidiah, that is, Loved of Jehovah. As Nathan officially announced God's hot displeasure against David's sins, now he comes to officially announce that he is still keeping the covenant that he made with David back in chapter 7. Here we get to the brass tax of why God loved Solomon because he promised he would. The curse God laid on the house of David in the beginning of chapter 12 sounds an awful lot like the undoing of the covenant God had made David, to build him and house. Now we see that God never could break that covenant, no matter how horrible David's crimes may have been, he will still build David a house, that is his family will still set on the throne, and God's love and favor will go on for him despite his sin.
Dear reader, do you know why God still loves you? Why does he continue to smile at us, comfort us, and show us mercy? Because he said he would, not because of who we are, but because of who he is, He loves us. Our names could well be Jedidiah because he still loves us despite all our sinfulness and failures. God's love is eternal, fathomless, and knows no end, the greatest waves of sin can not quench it, lust, adultery, lies, deceit and even murder could not put out the love that God had for David and his children, still, he loved him, oh that we might know more of this love. I will end today with a prayer of Paul's for myself and for every person who reads this, That we "May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
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