TITLE: I FEEL YOUR PAIN
SCRIPTURE: II SAMUEL 11:1-5 / 12:18a
This is a passage of Scripture that most if not all of us have been introduced to at a very early stage in our Christian journey. Between the two Scriptures that have been read there is so much that took place, that I will only briefly touch upon, so I encourage you to spend some time over the course of the next few days and read the Chapters to understand what God is saying to you.
Perhaps what we know about the text and what we understand about King David and Bathsheba has us somewhat disconnected as to the title of this morning’s message – I Feel Your Pain. This message this morning is going to deal with those among us that are STILL HURTING - HURT IN THE PAST AND STILL WEAR THE SCARS – DEALING WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PAIN, MOST OF THAT PAIN REFUSING TO LIE DORMANT IN OUR MINDS.
Do you mind if we just jump right into the passage, without my normal working with an Introduction to help focus and pave a path for us? That first verse tells us that David was already on a slippery slope - and the slope gets steeper. David should have been on the outskirts of Jerusalem - he should have been with his troops in battle against their enemies.
• I think that the first verse reminds us that we are most prone to temptation when we are not where we are supposed to be
• If David gets lost in this chapter, not being where he was supposed to be is his first steps in this journey
Can anybody here relate to that fact this morning? The most difficult times we have had in our lives happened when we were not where we were supposed to be. We deviated for just a moment. We find this same issue with ADAM after eating of the fruit. God asked a question, not that God was confused – GENESIS 3:9 “….ADAM WHERE ART THOU?” God was letting Adam know that he fell into sin because Adam was not where God left him. He was not where he was supposed to be. We find David on this slippery slope of sin because he was not where he was supposed to be. If we are truthful, we would all have to admit that we have been there throughout our lives. You remember don’t you:
• We told our parents we were one place when we were actually somewhere else
• If we had only been where we were supposed to be we never would have hooked up with that no good joker
• If we had only been in class instead of partying all over College Campus, we would have had the degree done by now
• If I had not been running all over town trying to find that knuckle head, would not have wrecked my car
• Not where we were supposed to be
• If I were only where I was supposed to be I would never have been introduced to Drugs
So this King was not where he was supposed to be and being restless, not able to sleep goes to the roof of the house and saw a very beautiful woman bathing. I always found it interesting that the text did not say Beautiful Woman, but quantifies it by placing the Adjective “Very” in front of the word Beautiful. From there an inquiry is made as to who is this Woman? The locomotive of sin is now moving down the track – full steam ahead.
My Biblical Curiosity was Aroused and I found it quite interesting how the narrator choose to introduce Bathsheba into this text. Is it just me or do you value the use of Words too?
• It is often the case that Biblical writers identify women by their husbands
• It is often the case that they identify women by their fathers
• It is rarely the case that Biblical writers identify women by both their husbands and their fathers
There is a reason for this, if we care to take time to study and labor in the Word. The narrator of our text does this to alert us, the readers, that the woman about whom David inquires is the daughter of one of thirty select military officers serving in David’s most elite corps:
• And that she is the spouse of another of these elite officers
• Of David’s thirty most trusted military officers, Bathsheba is related to two
• He fully understands that this is the wife and daughter of two of his finest Military Generals
• Promoted at the very hands of the King
• Uriah was not a common soldier
• He was one of David’s thirty valiant men
As soon as David learns her identity he doesn’t even pause at the altar of involvement with the wife of one of his officers and the daughter of another.
• No concern here for his role as Husband
• No concern here for his role as King
• No concern here for his role as Commander in Chief
• Rather, David sends messengers and fetches her and lays with her
• I wonder why David even bother to inquiry
• It seems to me that he really didn’t care who she was or if she were married or not
In one moment of passion David violates the:
• 7th commandment – Thou shall not commit adultery
• 8th Commandment – Thou shall not steal
• 10th Commandment - Thou shall not covet your neighbor's wife
• And in a few moments you’ll see he breaks the 6th commandment - You shall not murder
• When it comes to sin David is batting .400!
• He is on the Road to be voted in as the MVP of sin
When we read and examine these Chapters, we give so much attention to David. It is at this point in my message that I want to now divert from KING DAVID – allow him to exit the scene. All too often we forget to pay proper attention to BETHSHEBA. I remember hearing a Pastor say while preaching this text, many years ago that Bathsheba should not have been out bathing herself.
• She should have been more modest
• She should have covered herself
• She was in the courts where women bath
• She was where she was supposed to be
• Most likely having a difficult time in the extended absence of her husband
We need to understand that Bathsheba was the victim in all that was about to take place in her life. She did not have a choice but to respond to the request of the King. BATHSHEBA IS THE VICTIM.
• David’s power was practically absolute
• What he wanted he got
• What he demanded he received
• Bathsheba had no other alternative but to obey or suffer the consequences of the king’s anger
• Indeed refusal could have meant death
When the King was satisfied, he sent her back home. He was done with her, go on back home now. Bathsheba goes home and probably does the best she can to put this behind her and move on with her life.
• Days, if not weeks pass by
• David may very well have forgotten about his tryst with Uriah’s wife
• But then he receives news that she is pregnant
• What else was she to do?
• The law says she could be stoned to death
• Pregnant and everyone knows her husband the General has been out at battle
• Everyone would think how could she have been unfaithful to her husband as he is out protecting the kingdom
David knows that the child is his so, being a strategist, he concocts a foolproof plan: It’s still early in the pregnancy, so order Bathsheba’s husband home from the battlefield; he’ll certainly sleep with her and discover later that he and his wife are expecting a child. Perfect. You know what happened…this honorable General refused to go home while his soldiers were out fighting.
• How do you think Bathsheba must have felt
• She knew what the King desired to do
• Almost like he was saying I don’t want you or the child
• Send your husband home and you worry about it
• Let your husband raise the child believing that the child is his
• David expects Bathsheba to be okay with this
I stopped by this morning to tell you Saints of God - I Feel Your Pain. Sometimes we paint this picture too pretty in an effort to make sure that King David comes out Smelling Like Roses. People are being hurt. Scars that will take decades to heal – I Feel Your Pain. Bathsheba must have felt betrayed, unwanted, and Used. You don’t get over those types of feelings overnight.
• Tired of hearing Preacher tell members to Get Over It
• Tired of insensitive Preachers telling members it’s in the past
• Pastors telling members – I don’t care what happened to you, God can’
• We need to care
• If we don’t care, who will?
• Stopped by to let you know I Feel Your Pain
David gives URIAH his own Death Certificate to the battle. You remember what had happened. King David made sure that Uriah was killed in battle and then took Bathsheba to be his wife. Can you imagine what the people must have thought?
• Isn’t King David Wonderful
• His Valliant General was Killed and he takes care of the Widow
• What a great man the King must be
• Few short months and she is pregnant
• David must really love this women
I am not concerned this morning about what the people must have thought. I am worried about Bathsheba and how she is handling all of this. Surely you don’t think she was fine in all of this. Sometimes we view her as she really made out well in all of this. I can’t even imagine the emotions she constantly struggled with.
• Have you ever been there?
• So many emotions
• You don’t know which emotions to deal with first
• So many different emotions you feel like you are about to lose your mind
• You begin to feel like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• One minute you are Up, next minute you are Down
Yes, yes, yes…. I Feel Your Pain. Bathsheba is now in the house of the King as another one of his wives and she had to hold her peace, she knew better than to make the King look bad.
• She had lost the love of her life
• II SAMUEL 11:26 “AND WHEN THE WIFE OF URIAH HEARD THAT URIAH HER HUSBAND WAS DEAD, SHE MOURNED FOR HER HUSBAND.”
• She lost an Honorable, Caring man
• She was accustomed to being the Queen of her Home
• Now she would be just another of the many wives of David
I can help prove my point through Scripture – DEUTERONOMY 17:17 “THE KING MUST NOT TAKE WIVES, OR HS HEART WILL BE LED ASTRAY.” It’s a pretty clear message from God and David should have listened.
• First he married Michal, Saul’s daughter
• Then he married Abigail, the widow of Nabal
• Then there was Ahinoam of Jezreel
• When David moved to Hebron he took for himself four more wives:- Maacah, Haggith, Abital and Eglah
• When he came to Jerusalem David took more wives and he also had concubines
• On that basis it is fair to say that David has ignored God
• It seems that David had a thing for women … lots of women
• Even woman who were not his to take
It is safe to say that God was Angry with David that’s why when Bathsheba finally gave birth to the Child, the Bible calls to our attention that the Child was born sickly. It has always puzzled me from this point through the Death of David decades down the road that the voice of Bathsheba falls silent, even when we consider the next birth where she would deliver a child by the name of Solomon.
We must be careful how we treat one another, especially those that are coming into this fellowship. We don’t know everyone’s story. Don’t know what our neighbor has been through or going through. You Don’t Know My Story.
• Some come in Quite – You don’t know their story
• Some come in and don’t say much – You don’t know their story
• Some come in with tears in their eyes – You don’t know their story
• Some come in and are hard to get along with – You don’t know their story
• All I can say this morning – I Feel Your Pain
Can anyone here relate to her? She is going through emotional hell … there are times when we have been through the same.
• Victims at the hands of those who were neglecting their duty
• Taken for granted by someone who had more than enough already
• Powerless to change your circumstances
• Treated unjustly by those who had the power to do otherwise
• Life is not always easy
• And those we trust … and those who are called to work on God’s side … and those who are certainly part of God’s family
• They can all let us down
How this whole scenario must have pained Bathsheba.
• Abused and treated as a commodity
• Powerless to change her circumstances
• Afraid of what her husband will do when he discovers she is pregnant – by the king
• Having her hands tied as the plot to kill her husband unfolds
• Mourning the death of the one she loved
• Then having to watch David get away scot-free
• It would not have been easy for her
This innocent child is born and through this whole experience from initial stages of labor through delivery, we don’t hear from Bathsheba. We are only given a glimpse of DAVID. Bible tells us for SEVEN DAYS David does not eat and he stays on his face in Prayer for their child that is apparently born with a condition that was not favorable. For Seven days David is in Prayer.
The Bible tells us that on the Seventh Day, the CHILD DIES. God was not pleased and could not condone David’s actions. There is so much more to this Narrative that we need to read for ourselves. GOD DOES NOT ALLOW THIS DASTARDLY DEED TO GO UNPUNISHED. We quite often don’t even preach the event as we should. Here we are in the 21st Century and we still make the victim out to be the bad guy. The story has not changed much today:
• She should not have put herself in that position
• She knew better to have been dressed like that
• She knew better to be out at that hour
• She should have seen all of the signs
• I’m sure she is just like her Momma
• I am sure No did not really mean No
• Yes, we still make the victim out to be the bad guy
Forty and two generations later, God ensured that His displeasure surrounding this event would still have Light shining upon it. Thousands of years after this even we are still reminded in an effort to help us. Consider with me a Scripture found in the New Testament – ST. MATTHEW 1:5-6 “AND SALMON BEGAT BOOZ OF RACHAB; AND BOOZ BEGAT OBED OF RUTH; AND OBED BEGAT JESSE; AND JESSE BEGAT DAVID THE KING; AND DAVID THE KING BEGAT SOLOMON OF HER THAT HAD BEEN THE WIFE OF URIAS;”
• Did you catch it
• Even God respected the life of Uriah in this lineage passage
• And David the King begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias
• He too was a victim in all of this
• God is saying, In spite of what you did David
• Does not mean I am okay with it
• I have always been taught from the time I was a little boy “Don’t Air Your Dirty Laundry”
• Whatever has happened in home, let it stay and rest in the home
• God was not Airing Dirty Laundry about the Lineage of Christ
• God was not Airing the Dirty Laundry of David
• God simply would not let David off the hook for the sins he committed
Doesn’t it strike you as unusual that BATHSHEBA IS NOT SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED BY NAME. Rather the ISSUE IS ONE OF OWNERSHIP. Bathsheba rightly belonged to Uriah the Hittite.
• She is not a Schemer
• She is not an Outsider
• She is not a Widow
• She was Forced into such a Position
• She didn’t want to be in such a position because she was the wife of one name Uriah
Let me try to close this morning to help us understand what happened with this Innocent Baby that was birthed in our text. This baby that was born sickly and lived for only Seven Days.
• Remember that Seven is God’s number that signifies Completeness
• God allowed the Baby to live for Seven Days to let us see His hand working
• God had to lay the sins of David on this Innocent Baby
• God had to lay the deeds on this Innocent Baby
• God said David you have violated so many of my statutes
• It’s too heavy for me to lay on you
• This innocent child will bear your burdens
• I view it as symbolic as to what would happen down the Road in a little town called Bethlehem
--Somebody is saying Pastor I was with you up until this point
--Somebody this morning is saying Pastor, I am not sure I agree with that
--God has done the same thing for you and me
--ISAIAH 9:6 “FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN: AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER”
--BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED
--A BABY BORN IN BETHLEHEM WOULD BEAR OUR SINS ON CALVARY
--HE WOULD PAY THE PRICE FOR YOU AND FOR ME
--BECAUSE OUR SINS WERE TOO HEAVY
--WE COULD NOT BEAR OUR BURDENS ALONE
--STOPPED BY TO TELL YOU IFYP
--IF YOU ARE HURTING AND STILL STRUGGLE EMOTIONALLY
--THE BEST PLACE FOR YOU TO BE IS IN THE ARMS OF A LOVING GOD
--YOU NEED TO BE A PART OF A LOVING CHURCH FAMILY
-- I Feel Your Pain
