In Repentance There Is Worship

As we repent, we should be worshipful that God would choose to forgive us.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   We note that David immediately begins to pray and plead with God to spare the baby’s life. He fasted and laid on the ground before the LORD all night. The elders would try and encourage David to take a break, come eat something, get some rest, but David would not. He would not leave the presence of the LORD, he would not stop begging and pleading on behalf of his son. This behavior worried the servants of David to the point that when the child actually did die, they were afraid of telling David the news, in fear of what he might do. To them, his behavior was so erratic and out of character, that they had no idea what to predict when the child actually died. Take notice that in repentance, there is worship. But what is even stranger, perhaps to us, is what happened when David discovered that the child had died. David lifted his face out of the dirt. He took a shower, washing all the dirt and ash, all the signs of mourning, off of him. He anointed himself with oil, the sign of joy, and went into the temple and worshiped the Lord. After a worship service, he went to eat. That seems strange to us, right? It seems to us that now is the time for weeping. So what exactly was going through David’s mind? Read 2 Sam. 12:21-23 “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? 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.” These words from David speak volumes about his theology, about what he thought about God’s nature, and give us direction as we repent of our own sin, and deal with the fallout of the consequences.