In the twelfth chapter of 2 Samuel, King David, king of Israel, is confronted by a prophet named Nathan. David has had what could most kindly be called an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah, one of David’s best and most loyal soldiers. As if the affair wasn’t bad enough, when David learned that his actions had resulted in a pregnancy, the king ultimately gave instructions to the leader of his army to put Uriah in a position on the battlefield where the only possible outcome would be his death at the hands of the enemy forces. Once Uriah was dead, David takes the grieving widow, consoles her, and makes her one of his wives.
After Nathan confronts David, David repents of his sin and seeks God’s forgiveness. Nathan declares that God has forgiven him and therefore will not kill David, but as penalty for the contempt that David has shown towards God, his son that Bathsheba had born would die. Faced with this horrible penalty, David spent the next seven days fasting and praying, pleading with God to spare the child, focusing all of his attention on trying to convince God to change his mind. Alas, at the end of seven days, the child dies. None of the servants wanted to tell David, as they had been so worried about his behavior when the child was alive that they couldn’t conceive of how he would respond with news of his death. Yet, when David does find out, he picks himself up off the ground, cleans himself up, and asks for a meal to be brought to him.
When the servants asked him about his behavior, David’s answer was straightforward. In his thinking, so long as the child was alive, there was a chance that he could convince God to graciously spare the child. However, once the child was dead, it was clear that his continued prayer and fasting would not bring the child back to life. Therefore, the only prudent course of action was to get on with his life.
The reasonable thing for us to do when an outcome is uncertain is to continue to work steadfastly to encourage the outcome that we want (presuming that we have the ability to affect the situation). If we aren’t willing to work for it, there’s no reason to think that it should happen. At the same time, we may never know which of our persistent efforts was the one that finally established the desired result. We must continue to do our part, and the higher the stakes, the more we must be willing to persevere until it is painfully obvious that the battle is over. However, if the battle ends and the outcome is not what we desired, we must remember that we fought the good fight and did what we could, but the responsibility then is to get on with our lives and live them to the fullest – whatever that may look like.
The particular battle being waged for the ferry system right now will end – we just don’t know when or how. Yet what is certain is that there will be other ferry battles to be fought in the future, and what we do at the end of this battle will shape how the next battle will be waged. So, work as hard as you can, participate wherever and however you can, and when the battle is over – no matter the outcome – get up off the floor, brush the dirt off of yourself, and take nourishment, because there is quite a bit more life to be lived.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron