ESSENCE OF WORSHIP - DAVID PART 1 (TRUE WORSHIP REQUIRES REPENTANCE)

The story of King David's adultery with Bathsheba is recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 11 and 12. David was about fifty when, contrary to custom and duty, he decided one year to stay home from the wars and let his general lead the army. Strolling about the palace one evening, he noticed the wife of one of his generals. He conceived a lust for Bathsheba, sinned with her, and then compounded his offense by arranging the death of her husband. Not until the Lord sent His prophet Nathan, to confront David and pronounce God's coming retribution (the death of Bathsheba's child) did the king at last confess his guilt.

"Nathan replied,'The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown untter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die' " (2 Samuel 12:14).

But David continued to seek the Lord and he sure knew how to pray. We see 2 Samuel 12:16-17 - "David pleaded with God for the child. he fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the gorund. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them."


But the child died! Anyone who has not learnt how to be subjected to God's way would have charged Him with harshness when his request was not granted. Many Christians have controversies with God when His ways conflict with their ways. Other might rebel or loose heart but not David. When the child died, his servants feared to break the news to him. They reasoned among themselves that if David was almost overwhelmed with anxiety when the child fell sick, his grief would be unbearable if he should learnt of his child death.
What actually happened? "Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, he put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and WORSHIPED. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food and he ate" (2 Samuel 12:20).


What is worship? It Is bowing to the ways of God. It is not a dull kind of submission. It is not lapsing into hopelessness or pasivity. It is a positive recognition of the sovereignty of God's ways.

It is often necessary for God to vindicate Himself in relation to us. It means that if we sin He has to justify Himself by making it clear to the angels, to the devil, to the world and to all His children that He has no part in our sin. He has to make it plain to the principalities and powers, to the world and to the church that He cannot be involved in our iniquity. When we are found guilty before Him, His govermental hand comes upon us and we are tried in fires of affliction. How do we react at such a time? Worshipers who know His ways will say: "If my affliction can vindicate Your holiness, then I say, amen! If You can make known Your righteousness by my suffering, then I acknowledge that You do all things well and I gladly accept Your dealings upon me."


David was a normal human being and he felt the death of his child keenly; but when he saw the hand of God in this, he bowed before Him in WORSHIP. May God deliver us from our controversies with Him. When we meet with disappointments and frustrations we shall choose to worship Him if we see His ways.