You Never Know About God

“And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell [whether] GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?”

God had told David through Nathan the prophet, his child would die as the result of his sin with Bathsheba. Yet, in spite of this, he spent a week in fasting and tearful prayers for the child’s recovery. As Mathew Henry says, “While there is life there is hope, and while there is hope, there is room for prayer.”

Although David did not have a particular promise, he was not sure God would not turn and be gracious to him. God has been known to do such things, as in the case of Hezekiah. After being told he would die, he wept and prayed, and God added fifteen years to his life. God’s mercy, many times, trumps His judgment.

When David’s servants asked the reason for his actions, to put it in our present day vernacular, he answered, “Who can tell, you never know what God might do.” He believed there was a chance God would point His sceptre of divine favor his way. And, beloved, who knows, this very day He might point it toward you or me.