TD Jakes - God Knows You're a Kid
Anyway, David finds himself, and he doesn't know how to stop himself. He doesn't know how to control the kid in him. He doesn't know how to be mature, because mature is not to negate either extremes but to be balanced between two polarities, not letting the king or the kid control or consume either side of your identities. A balance. That's maturity. It's balance, but in the process of balancing yourself, sometimes balancing you go too far to one extreme or the other, and this was one of those times.
And maybe you don't know what I'm talking about, but keep living, because somewhere in the process of getting through life you will tip too far to one side or the other and now we got a situation. That's what the old folk call it, a siti-ay-shon. Has anybody ever had a situation? King David had a situation, and he slept with her a lot, for quite a while, and her husband was, she was married, you know? And the good pastor, I mean, the good brother, people don't like it when you're preaching truth, you know? But this is in the Bible. This is in your Bible. It's in my Bible and now they got this situation. I like that word. I'm gonna keep that, situation going, and it's a situation.
And then, she come to him, and she came to him with that look that the sisters give that says, you know, she says, "I'm late". She didn't mean for lunch, and so it's a dilemma and now the king is in a crisis over the kid. The king is in a crisis over the kid and now he does a kiddish thing. He, in a panic-stricken moment, decides, "I'm gonna get out of this. I'm gonna have Uriah, her husband, brought in," 'cause he got power now. He's still the king. The king may be kiddish, but the king has still got power. You don't fool with him. He said, "Bring Uriah home". They brought Uriah home. Middle of a war. They stopped fighting, said, "Hey, the king said come home".
Uriah comes home. He says, "Uriah, you've been on the battlefield for a long time. Your lovely wife was here all alone and lonely, destitute and distraught and just as an act of kindness, because of your loyalty to this government, I want you to spend, you know, a weekend with your wife". But what he didn't count on was Uriah's commitment to him, because Uriah sleeps outside of David's door, refusing to sleep with his wife because he feels uncomfortable with celebrating while other men are suffering. And David never counted on the level of commitment in this lowly man who had no prestige or title, but had far more balance than the king did. And so, he sleeps outside the door.
Now, David has got a real situation, because had Uriah gone in and slept with her then the dates woulda almost lined up with the other situation, and then David could have passed it off. Now, I know y'all have never tried to plot your way out of a mess, but David is trying to plot his way out of this dilemma, and it's not going good. Things are not lining up. In fact, they're getting worse, and so now David, who was first a luster and then became a fornicator, now he is playing around with his next step. Sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth forth death, so now he's playing with his next step. He said, "I'll tell you what. I think", he said, "Send Uriah back to the frontlines so that when the Ammonites are fighting they'll kill him first," and David got in this situation he couldn't get out of, and it led to him having to do something even more radical. And now Uriah, who incidentally loved him, got killed because the king couldn't control the kid.
Now, Bathsheba is pregnant, Uriah is dead, and David is going on business as usual. "Amazing grace". He got it down pat. He's going on about his business. He gotten past everybody. He had his woman, he got his way, he done everything, he got Uriah killed, and here comes a knock at the door. Here comes a knock at the door from Nathan and when Nathan knocks on the door... and Nathan is the prophet. Nathan locks on the door...
And see, every man needs somebody in his life who has the right to confront you about your behavior. Every man needs somebody in your life and excuse me for being country, but I was raised in the woods by an Alabaman and a Mississippian, so I'll just break it down. Who come around 'em and say, "You been acting a fool. You're acting like you have lost, what were you thinking about? Have you lost your God-thinking mind"? I mean, without form and without fashion and without, "O king, thou who liveth forever," dah-dah. Somebody needs to be able to say, "You're crazy, man". You need to have somebody in your life who has the permission to confront you.
Nathan was anointed to deal with kings. Had to be an anointing to do this. He knows exactly how to approach David. He knows exactly how to deal with David. There is an anointing, and he comes to David, and he says, "You know what? We got this guy down the road. Really tripping, man. He really tripping. I think you should make some sort of decision about his behavior. He got all kinds of lambs and flocks and young ewe lambs and things like that, and his neighbor is poor and broke and don't have but one lamb. And the rich man had somebody come to visit him who was hungry and rather than the rich enter his stable"... I'm gonna explain that, "in his stable of lambs".
He takes this one lamb and when he talk, he said they raised the lamb. They nurtured the lamb. The lamb played with the kids. The lamb was like a daughter to this man. He makes you understand clearly that this lamb was dear to that man's heart. He said, у took that one lamb and he said, "What ought to be done about him"? David said, "Well, they ought to kill him and ought to judge him and make him pay it back four times," because we are good at judging other men's sins. Isn't it funny how we always know what ought to be done about somebody else's situation? If most men or women, either, for that matter, ever got to have to be judged by the judgments they execute on other people, they'd be put to death. If your child was judged the way you judge mine, if your marriage was measured the way you measure mine, isn't it funny how people will judge you about something they're guilty of?
David had the ability to see other men sins, but he couldn't see his own. One of the problems with your own greatness is when you surround yourself with people who will always celebrate you, and there is nobody there to challenge you. You lose all perspective, and you start believing your own press and thinking that you're greater than who you are, and you're setting yourself up for a great calamity. Pride cometh before a fall, so David, David says, "This ought to be done to him. That ought to be done to him", Nathan said, "I thought you'd say that. You're the man. You're the man".
David didn't realize that God knew about the kid in him, that God had seen him. The second thing he didn't realize, he didn't realize how much God had blessed him, until Nathan began to say he said, "Do you not know you was a nothing? You was a shepherd boy. Nobody was even thinking about you. When God picked you up and brought you to the forefront, he gave you your master's house. He gave you your master's wives. He gave you your name and your reputation".
See, it's a funny thing. Most of the time you don't realize how good God has been to you until you compromise the goodness of God in your life, till you've threatened the goodness of God in your life, till you've brought yourself down to a point that you could lose it all, and all of a sudden it becomes valuable because you're about to lose it. Life becomes valuable to people that are dying. All of a sudden they enjoy sunsets, and they start talking about, "It's raining, but it's beautiful in the rain," because suddenly their life has been short.
A marriage becomes more important when somebody is about to leave you, and you begin to say, "You know what? This marriage wasn't so bad. I wish I'd have kept this thing together". A job becomes more important when it's gone. We have a tendency to take the blessings of God for granted. David forgot to be thankful for how good God had been to him.
One of the worst things a man can be as God raises you up out of the dunghill is for you to allow the problems of your success to overwhelm the blessings of your success, and you fool around and become unthankful. You start complaining about needing an oil change and the carburetor needs to be cleaned, and you forgot you didn't used to have a car. "I can't believe we gotta pay this much taxes on this house". Five years ago you didn't have a house. "And all they want me to do is work overtime, work overtime, work. Whenever they want something done they throw it on me". You're the same person who was begging God for this job.
One of the worst things, right in the middle of the New Testament, talking about idolaters and murderers and envy and strife, it list unthankful. David sinning above adultery and everything else was unthankful and when everything had been compromised suddenly he recognizes that God had been good to him, and God said, "I gave you your master. I gave you your master's house. I protected you from your enemies". He said, "I gave you your master's wives". He said, "And if that had not been enough I would have given you such and such". He said, "You haven't even tapped into all the stuff that I would have given you if you'd ask me".
And now, David is in this mode. He's in this mode where judgment is being executed on him, and Nathan says, "Listen, you're not getting away from this clean. You're gonna lose some stuff. The sword will not depart from your house. Your children are gonna rise up and abuse your own wives. Your relationships are gonna be scandalous and destroyed". He said, "You did it in secret, but I'm gonna bring you to an open shame. I'm gonna embarrass you in public. I'm gonna bring you to total humiliation. I will stop shy of killing you, but I will break you. I will crush you, I will humble you, but I will not destroy you".
And there David is dealing with that kind of praying. That even deeply unspiritual brothers do this kind, where you get to God and let me see if I can describe it, 'cause you've never done this. Have you ever said to God, "Lord, if you get me out of"? "I know this was my fault. I know I've been stupid. I know I didn't serve you right. I know I didn't listen at the warning signs. I know I acted a fool. I know I messed up, but, Lord, down in my heart I love you. And, Jesus, if you would just please get me outta this I promise that you will never have to talk to me no more about this". And you start negotiating to God like a kid.
Have you ever talked to a kid that's about to get a whooping? "Look, Mama, I ain't do this no more. Look, Mama, I promise I will never do this no more. You ain't gotta whup me about this. If you get me out of this". Have you ever prayed that kinda prayer where, "It's me. It's me. It's me, O Lord, standing. And not my mother, not my father, but it's me, O Lord. It's my fault. Against thee and thee only have I sinned. O Lord, have mercy"? Oh, it will make you pray. It will make you pray. I mean you will pray like Noel Jones can preach it. You'll be, "O Lord, I come before you, my Father". I mean the kinda prayer where you know you are in trouble.
Does anybody in here know what it's like? Come on, be real. Have you ever had to go to God like that? Have you ever prayed scared? See, you have to know what I'm talking about to know what I'm talking about. Pray scared, "O God. O God, get me out of this. Get me out of this. I know I shouldn't have been smoking all of them years, but now they got a spot on my lungs. God, get me out of this. Get me out of this. I know I messed up. I messed up. It is my fault, Lord. It is my fault. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, they're gonna do one more test in the morning. Come on, Lord. Come on, Lord. I don't want no cigarettes". You start tearing them up. "I don't want none, Lord. I'm through. I don't even want no fireplace. I don't want no smoke in my life".
Or, some of you brothers know what I'm talking about. You go to get a physical, and you get a HIV test, and you've been counting back years. "Now, ten years, This is 19, this is 2004. This is 2000. This is". I'm talking about fear. I'm talking about fear where food rots in your gut and sleep evades your eyes. Talking about fear where you get down on your knees and say, "God, please have mercy. Have mercy on me". Fear.
And Bathsheba has birthed a baby, and the baby is sick, and David is asking God for mercy, and God is dealing with David, and David is trying to deal with God. He's wrapped himself up in sackcloths and ashes, 'cause now you don't wanna do nothing. You don't wanna date nobody now. You're in church on Sunday. You're in church on Sunday night. It ain't even super Sunday. You're just there in case they have church. You're at Wednesday night Bible class. You're trying out for the deacon board. You're thinking about joining the usher board, and you can't sing a little bit, "I'll get in the choir". You're just...
And what has happened here is that God has allowed David to encounter this kiddish behavior before he goes any further into the kingdom, and he has confronted it now so that he can correct it before it totally destroys him later. And God will put you in a mode of correction. Before whatever kiddish in you destroys the king in you God is correcting you. Touch somebody and tell 'em, "God is correcting you". Oh, no correction for the present seemeth joyous. When God was correcting you it's a painful thing. It's a painful thing. I'm telling you it's a painful thing y'all when God starts correcting you. You haven't had your hind end whipped till God gonna pick a switch.
When God picks a switch, he knows what kinda switch to pick to bring you up under control and now the kid is on the altar. Bathsheba has had a baby and the baby is dying. David doesn't even know whether he's got his job back. His kingdom has been shattered. His name has been shattered. He's been humiliated. He doesn't even know if God would even see him again, and he's just out there praying, sackcloths and ashes, and he's praying, and he's still not praying right. He's praying that God would let the baby live and sometimes we're putting a lotta energy in asking God to keep something alive that needs to die.
Oh, I'm preaching to somebody. I don't know who it is. Some of y'all are trying to save a relationship. That you need to just let it die. You're trying to resurrect something that you shoulda left it in the graveyard. It was killing you and trying to destroy you, and God has to take you through a seven-day fast, a test and a trial, to break your hold on the thing. It's not that it has a hold on you. Sometimes you have a hold on it. God convinced David. "David, do you see what the kid in you did to your king? You went from lust to adultery, from adultery to murder. You've compromised your favor, you've lost your influence, and you're down to nothing".
And David is just hanging out there weeping, crying out before God, trying to get his place back, because, see, what you have to be able to do, you have to be able to repent. You have to be able to repent. If you can't repent, you can't be restored. You gotta be able to repent. You gotta find a place where the Bible calls it a place of repentance. It's a grace to repent, the ability to say, "I'm wrong. I'm wrong and I'm sorry. I'm wrong and I'm ready to change". It's a grace that God gives you to repent. You can't do it whenever you wanna do it. You have to do it when God gives you the grace to repent. To find a place of repentance is a gift from God. David starts repenting.
Does anybody know what it is to repent? I mean when God opens your soul up, and you say, "God, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I am sorry. And if you get me out of this, I will never do it again. I have come to the end of myself. Whatever I needed to learn, I've learned it. I've grown up. I'm thinking straight. I'm understanding straight. I'm speaking straight. I got my act together. I got my head on straight. Forgive me, Lord. Try me, create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit in me. Lay not this to my charge. Forgive me. Purge me with hyssop. Wash me, and I shall be clean. Deliver me. Take it out of my system. Take it out of my vein. Take it out of my heart. I don't want it, not another drink. I don't want it, not another deal. Deliver me".
And David is wondering if he's gone so far or done so bad that maybe God doesn't want him anymore. And when David heard that the baby was dead he was outside, and they didn't even wanna tell him that the baby was dead, but the Bible said he perceived that the baby was dead, and the Bible said he said, "He is dead". And he got up and washed his face and changed his clothes and started coming toward the house of the Lord, because even though the baby was dead, that was the bad news. But the good news was God was ready to restore him and let me show you something. Let me make this connection. It was at this point that he wrote, "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord'".
I was glad when I got the word that I was forgiven. I was glad when I found out that God would wash me and restore me. I was glad when I found out that God would give me back what I lost. I was glad when they said unto me, I will enter into his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise and be thankful unto him and bless his name. I'm gonna praise the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Let all that's within me bless his holy name. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and delivered him out and in the middle of your dilemma the enemy will try to tell you, "Listen, you are so messed up. You are so messed up. You did so much mess. No way God could want you. You messed up your marriage. You messed up your career. You slept with another woman. You slept with another man. You've done some horrible stuff".
I want you to hear this Word, and I want you to let it get way down in your spirit, because this is the sum total of everything I have to say to you today. The Lord loves you, the king and the kid. He loves the right and the wrong and the weak and the strong and the bruised and the fallen and the battered part of you, and he's waiting on you to get your act together, and it should begin today.