Submission to the will of God

The next incident when David submitted to God’s will was in connection with the death of his first child with Bathsheba. After Nathan the prophet returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. The whole affair was an adulterous union in which God decided to punish David by killing the child. David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. He fasted for seven days and prayed. On the seventh day, the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him, they thought he was going to do something drastic. When they finally told him, David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshipped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate. When taken to task by his servants, he said he had to live a normal life because he could not bring back to life the child. Only God would be able to do this. Hence his submission to His will. When David comforted Bathsheba, his wife and slept with her, she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child.