26/08/2026
DATE: WEDNESDAY 26TH AUGUST 2026
TOPIC: THE RISE AND FALL OF SOLOMON (PT.2a)
SUB-TOPIC: FIRST NOT NECESSARILY THE BEST
BIBLE TEXT: 2SAM.12v14-19
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
15 And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
Loss of anything oftentimes is attended with pain. I dare say as well that the loss of a thing is what actually brings out the real value of the lost item. For instance, there was told in the bible the story of the lost sheep in Lk.15v4-6 as follows:
4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
The reason for the celebration is in the fact that the ninety-nine remaining sheep would lose their value as sheep owners of the time sold them in hundreds. Losing one therefore becomes significant as it diminishes the value of the remaining ninety-nine. The same thing applies to losing a sock, slipper or earing. This said, the loss of a child is of a different type of pain altogether. This is one loss that can never be financially quantified or socially predicted.
Bathsheba had lost her dignity, lost her peace with the loss of Uriah to the cold hands of death in a premeditated plan by David and now even lost the child, a prince in Israel. This was one particular loss too many for Bathsheba. one thing we need to understand that about the workings of God is that He is a restorer. He is so good at what He does that He is able to restore what man considers the most unlikely and impossible, time which is also agreed to be life. In Joel 2v25 the bible says as follows:
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
Since time is a calibration for life, God also specializes in restoring life to the dead as demonstrated copiously in the bible using vessels like Elijah, Elisha and the Resurrection and Life personified; Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Jn.11v25). In one of such cases of life-restoration exercise by the Lord Jesus, we are told in Lk.8v49 as follows:
While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master.
Yes, Jairus lost his precious girl but here is what followed in Lk.8v54-55:
54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.
55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.
How then was Bathsheba restored when she started the journey of motherhood with the loss of a child? Did that child come back to life through some prophetic intervention?
PRAYER
FATHER IN THE NAME OF JESUS, WE DECREE THAT THERE SHALL BE NO LOSS OF LIFE OR OF THINGS IN OUR FAMILIES-ACT.27v22
BRO. TOBI ARIKAWE
