2 Samuel 12:16-23
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them.
18On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.”
19David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
20Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!”
22He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
David had received the word from Nathan that the baby born to Bathsheba was to die. David, now deep in repentance and acutely aware of his sin, continued to plead, fast, and lie in sackcloth. Sackcloth is a coarse, uncomfortable fabric, used to symbolize deep mourning, repentance, humility, or distress. Throughout this seven-day period, the illness of the baby drove David to a dependence on God that he had abandoned during his time of sinning and cover-up. What David had tried to keep secret was now exposed in full.
Once the baby died, David returned to his daily routine, but not before going into the house of the Lord to worship. What appeared to his attendants as strange behavior was really David placing his faith in God’s grace and in the belief that he would “go to him” (the baby) in Heaven. David chose surrender rather than resentment, and worship rather than withdrawal. David’s response to God’s “no” reveals what fasting and repentance are truly meant to produce in us.
What is our reaction when we receive a “no” answer to our prayers? Is it surrender or resentment?