Today’s Reading : 2 Samuel 13-14; Acts 28
Throughout our lives, we go through cycles. Sometimes we find ourselves doing routines with ourselves or our friends at the same cadence. It sometimes can become predictable. One of the cycles that I find myself in is the “day off cycle”. Since working in pharmacy, I’ve always had one particular day off during the week. This day has been on Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday, and Monday. Each of these days was set aside, so that I could have a specific day off during the week to accommodate me working on the weekends. Now as this day comes up, it’s a day of reflection, refreshment, restoration. Many times in our life the cycle helps us to get a sense of routine or safety. Sometimes cycles happen for us that are good. Sometimes cycles can be placed upon us from generational things that we have to overcome. In today’s reading, we can see that David is going through several cycles that affect his entire life.
David’s life had many cycles. To fully understand today’s passage you have to review some of the previous chapters. In the previous chapters, it is where David takes Bathsheba for his wife and kills her husband. This continued a cycle of killing and fleeing that David had for most of his life as we saw with King Saul and with his son Absalom.
In the cycles, David shows us a wrestling between his human nature and the spirit of God. In the cycles we could see how we will fall, but if we have the Spirit of God with us, then we could be renewed. Even when we are renewed, sometimes we have to undergo the pain of our actions. One of the most inspiring, yet hard realizations is when David’s first born child of Sheba passes away.
2 Samuel 12: 19-22
19 But 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.” 20 Then 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. 21 Then 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.” 22 He 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?’ 23 But 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.”
In this passage, we can see an example of how to be like David, in the respect of how to give God everything that we have. In the midst of our sorrows, God is working in us. In the midst of grief, God is working with us. And despite all of the circumstances that may transpire against us, we have to understand that God will provide peace and comfort to us in our darkest times.
Sometimes we go through cycles for our benefit, or for the benefit of others. No matter what our cycles that we are going through we must continue to ask God for his guidance to show us how his glory will be revealed. Some of our cycles will be happy. Some of our cycles will be sad. But in all of our cycles, we understand that God is with us.
Be blessed.