Have you ever thought of how Bathsheba felt in her story (2 Samuel 11:1 – 12:24)? Here you are going about life and one day out of the blue you are called into the King’s presence. He rapes you and sends you home. Your husband is off at war. You may have your family with you, but what kind of condolences would you get? He’s the King. You’re just a woman.
Later you find out your pregnant. You more than likely hear rumors that your husband is being brought in from war. You have to know that purposes of these events because the King would not risk having you tell what happened. Each night you wait for your husband to come home, and he doesn’t show.
You had just experienced the humiliation of being the object of one man’s lust and then thrown aside when he was finished. Now the one man who is supposed to love and protect you won’t come to your side. What would he do when he finds out your pregnant? Thoughts of raising a child alone start to form in your mind. What would you think about God, yourself, or God’s view of you?
Then on top of the depression that must have already been setting in, your husband is killed at war. The reason of his death you would assuredly find out at some point was the man who caused all of her pain. Remember Nathan’s rebuke of David portrayed Bathsheba as the innocent lamb stolen from the love of another and sacrificed for the portrayer’s pleasure. Would God ever step in and make good come out of this?
Most assuredly He does. Bathsheba is eventually brought into the lineage of the coming Christ. It is her son Solomon that replaces David on the throne. Her son is the one who is king during the grandest time of Israel’s history.
We are not to look at the painful events and say God caused them. But, we are must trust the power of our Almighty Creator God to be able to take those evil circumstances and create something exponentially greater than the evil that was bestowed.
Whatever painful circumstance you have endured, take it to Jesus. Allow Him to interpret it for you. The truth of any circumstance is only what Jesus says is true about it.
- Additional Resource: How God redeemed Joseph’s circumstances