Trials, Repentance, and Mercy

by Henry Mate

To the Royal Family of Yehovah. May the Graciousness of Eloah be upon you.

It is common for people to encounter myriad of hardships and trials in life. Are we to let this utterly destroy us and be defeated?

A big NO!

Beloved King David, when faced with difficult trials, wrote a mizmor when the Prophet Nathan came unto him.  This was after he had gone in to Bethsheba.

Let’s hear him speak!.

Psalm 51:1  Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. 

All Scripture comes from the MKJV unless otherwise noted.

What was the real issue that made David so remorseful? Let’s find out.

2 Samuel 11:6-17   

6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7  And when Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war went. 8  And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. And Uriah left the king’s house. And a gift from the king went out after him. 9  But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10  And they told David, saying, Uriah did not go to his house. And David said to Uriah, Did you not come from a journey? Why have you not gone down to your house? 11  And Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents. And my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are camped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. 12  And David said to Uriah, Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go. And Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next day. 13  And when David had called him, he ate and drank before him. And he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. 14  And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15  And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and draw back from him so that he may be stricken and die. 16  And it happened when Joab observed the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew brave men were. 17  And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell. And Uriah the Hittite also died. 

2 Samuel 11:26  And the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, and mourned for her husband.  27  And when her mourning was past, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of Jehovah. 

Then what happened?

Let’s read from 2 Samuel 12:7-14

7  And Nathan said to David, You are the man! So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.  8  And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that was too little, I would have given to you such and such things besides. 

Nathan is reminding David of all that Yehovah has done for him.

9  Why have you despised the Word of Jehovah, to do evil in His sight? You have stricken Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 

Now he explains the great evil he did in arranging for Uriah’s death to cover up his sin of sleeping with Uriah’s wife.

10  And therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11  So says Jehovah, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12  For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. 

Judgment is to come upon King David.

13  And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said to David, Jehovah also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14  Only, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, this child born to you shall surely die. 

The full incident is narrated in 2 Samuel 11:1-5

1 And it happened at the turn of the year, at the time kings go forth, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed the sons of Ammon and circled Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2  And it happened one evening, David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 3  And David sent and asked about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4  And David sent messengers and took her. And she came in to him, and he lay with her. And she had purified herself from her uncleanness. And she returned to her house. 5  And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. 

So you see, King David had a problem. He realized the great evil he did with taking another man’s wife so he tried to cover it up by arranging for her husband to come home so everyone would think her husband was the Father. When Uriah refused to come home, he arranged to have him killed.

Jehovah Himself had to respond to this evil deed perpetrated by King David so He sends Nathan the Prophet to speak to him.

2 Samuel 12:1-7

1  And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city, one rich and one poor. 

2  The rich one had exceeding many flocks and herds, 3  but the poor one had nothing except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him and with his sons. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter. 4  And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the traveler that had come to him. But he took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man who had come to him. 

5  And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die. 6  And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7  And Nathan said to David, You are the man! So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 

Then David, the beloved king after Yehovah’s eyes repented.

David cried his heart out in this Psalm:

Psalm 51:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.  2  Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3  For I confess my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me. 

Sin requires repentance. True repentance will bring His forgiveness, His grace.

But even though, What is Mercy?

The Hebrew word is cha-nan which means: generosity, favour or kindness and being gracious.

What is Grace?
Strong’s H2580 Chen – favour, kindness.

It is used in this verse: Gen 6:8  But Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah. 

Now, this is the Greek word for Grace: Strong’s G5485 – charis.

It is used in this verse: John 1:16 And out of His fullness we all have received, and grace for grace. 

You see, Grace, Favour, and Mercy all mean the same thing. The church translates it as “Grace”, but the word means Favour or Mercy. Grace, in itself, is nothing new.

Do you know how merciful Our Father in heaven is?

Psalms 34:6  This poor man cried, and Jehovah heard, and saved him out of all his troubles.  7  The Angel of Jehovah camps round about those who fear Him, and delivers them. 8  Taste and see that Jehovah is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him. 

Now I ask you this question… Do you ever need this free gift called MERCY?

Romans 3:23  for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, 

This verse from the TS2009 (The Scriptures) provides a better translation.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the esteem of Elohim (TS2009)

Esteem means praise.  We have all fallen short of His praise. Only He is worthy of our praise and worship. We strive every day to become more like Him.  

Therefore, don’t point a finger.

Romans 3:9-12  9 What then? Do we excel? No, in no way; for we have before charged both Jews and Greeks all with being under sin, 10  as it is written: “There is none righteous, no not one; 11  there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.” 12  “They are all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable, there is none that does good, no, not one.” 

The great prophet, Jeremiah, tells us:

Jeremiah 32:17  Ah, Lord Jehovah! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and stretched out arm. Nothing is too great for You. 18  You show loving-kindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. The great, the mighty God, Jehovah of Hosts, is His name, 19  great in wisdom and mighty in work; for Your eyes are open on all the ways of the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. 

David has this wise admonition for us:

Psalms 34:8  Taste and see that Jehovah is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him. 

Funny thing from a king? Right? The King tells us to seek Yehovah and place our trust in Him!  The Kings of other nations generally command their people to trust them! In David’s day, Kings of other nations were worshiped as gods.

What do you think David means by this word “Taste”?

Strong’s H2938 taw-am’ – A primitive root; to taste; figuratively to perceive: –  X but, perceive, taste.

The great Apostle and Overseer implores:

1 Peter 2:3 truly you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 

What does Peter mean by “taste”?

Strong’s G1089 geuomai  –  primary verb; to taste i.e. to eat figuratively – to experience.

David tells the people to perceive that God is good and Peter tells the people to experience His favor.  Both come from knowing Him through Faith and Action. To perceive from a Hebrew perspective is not a mental assertion as it is in the Greek language.  Hebrew always involves action.  Perception and understanding come from faith with the works (action) that show our faith.  In other words, to experience it first-hand as Peter tells you to do.  

We see this again from James:

James 2:18  But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith from my works.

James 2:20  But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Before ending this lesson, let’s look at Peter’s words one more time.

1 Peter 2:2-3 desire the sincere milk of the Word, as newborn babes, so that you may grow by it; if truly you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (MKJV)

This same verse from the TS2009 (The Scriptures) reads as follows:

1 Peter 2:2-3 as newborn babes, desire the unadulterated milk of the Word, in order that you grow by it, if indeed you have tasted that the Master is good. (TS2009)

The MKJV and the KJV translate “Master” to Lord, which is a title.  You do not know who “Lord” is?  The TS2009 preserves “Master”, but once again, who is Peter referring to?

The Aramaic Scriptures, which are based on the Eastern Khabouris Texts, and not the Western bias of the church, preserve the original.  It shows “Master Yehovah”. 

WOW! 

Both David and Peter are referring to Yehovah, the Father!   Yes, TASTE Yehovah and know that He is good and gracious.  Yes indeed, Grace, Favour, and Mercy existed in the Old Testament, which is properly called the Tanach.  His son is not teaching anything new.    

If you never tried Yehovah of his graciousness, I implore you to do it today.

Time is running out.  Stay with us to learn more.  Fill up your oil level!