Swindoll--Riding Out the Storm 10/19/2023
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(2 Samuel 12:21–23) 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.” 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?’ 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.”
David refused to give up. When suffering the backwash of sin, our tendency is to say, "I am through. I am finished with living. Life isn't worth it any longer." But look at what David did: he "comforted his wife Bathsheba." It's easy to forget that she was also grieving. Both of them went through a period of grief. They wept. And then they went on living.
David is once more walking with the Lord as he did in days past. One of the most pathetic scenes on earth is a child of God who sits in the corner too long, licking his wounds in self-pity. It takes as much (often more) spiritual strength and purpose to recover and move on as it does to go through a crisis. "I will go on, I will pick up the pieces, I will get back on target, I will go back to work, I will begin to enjoy my friends again, I will carry on as I did before. In fact, by God's grace, I will be wiser and even more effective than I was before."
David, in riding out the storm, gives us some beautiful guidelines. He prayed, he faced the consequences realistically, he turned it all over to the Lord as he claimed the scriptural truth concerning death, and then he refused to give up. He moved on, relying on his God for strength.
Riding out the storm is a lonely experience. You will never be more alone emotionally than when you are in the whirlwind of consequences. You will wish others could help you, but they can't. They will want to be there, they will care, but for the most part, you have to ride out the storm alone.
Riding out the storm, thank God, is also a temporary experience. It may be the most difficult time in your life. You will be enduring your own whirlwind. On the other hand, you may be the innocent bystander caught in the consequential backwash of another's sin. You'll feel desperately alone, and it may seem that it will never, ever end. But believe me, the whirlwind is a temporary experience. Your faithful, caring Lord will see you through it.