I absolutely love 2 Samuel 12:24-25. Have you noticed these verses? Here, let me share them with you.
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went into to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the Lord’s sake.
Now, if these verses just came in the context of a loving husband comforting his wife after the death of their child, the beauty might simply lie in the marital love expressed. But, there is so much more to the story.
I mentioned recently that we have been reading through the story of David. Chapter 12, where these verses are found, is the part of the story where the prophet Nathan comes and confronts David about his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah. David is repentant, but the consequences are still bitter. David is promised much turmoil in his home and family (2 Samuel 12:10-12), and the child that resulted from the affair dies.
The union between David and Bathsheba begins begins horribly and only gets worse from there. But, here, at the end of the chapter that bears so much grief we find two verses of great joy. David and Bathsheba have a second son, and the Lord loved him!
It is so easy to look at the horrific cruelty of sin, specific and general, and desire to banish everything related to it. We convince ourselves that nothing good can come from blatant disobedience, and we turn our backs on the sinner. And yet here we have two people whose very marriage is founded on blatant sin, but the son born to them bears a God-given name that identifies him as being beloved of the Lord.
That is one of the amazing things to me about the God we serve. He can take anything and make it beautiful. He can turn the darkest of nights into the most glorious moment of celebration. And He can take a situation created by blatant sin and utilize it for His glory. In fact, not only can He, but He undoubtedly will. Why? Because everything comes back to His glory. He will be glorified in all things!
We minimize our understanding of His great power, authority, supremacy, and sovereignty when we deny that He can work through even the worst of situations. May our eyes be open to how He is working and moving all around us. And may we never discount His handiwork just because we are grieved by the earthly source.
Not Quite Ordinary 