2 Samuel 12:16-23

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. ¹⁶ David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷ And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. ¹⁸ On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 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.”

I remember someone sharing with us in church on many occasions about crying out to God and praying for our unsaved loved ones while they are still with us. She said we should be on our knees crying for them now so that we are not bawling inconsolably for them when they leave this world. If we leave this world unsaved, then we are doomed, and that’s the truth. So, we must do our best to share God with everyone around us and pray for them as much as we can in hopes that they will accept salvation. It’s sad when someone passes because we will miss them, but when the person is unsaved, it is immensely sad because there is no more hope at that point.

This account of David reminds me that we should cry out to God before it is too late. David prayed, fasted and cried out to God for the child, but when the child died, he stopped. He did all that he could when he could. But after death, it’s too late. Let us be reminded of this while we still have time, and hopefully, this motivates us to pray. Let it be that when the time is up, we can rejoice in our mourning because we will miss them but we know that they are with the Lord.

Thank You Aunty Genny