Chronicles of Mercy

CHRONICLES OF MERCY
(2nd Samuel 11, 12)
 
10th January:
Kind David stood on the pent house, 
The pent floor of the palace was the 
highest point, overlooking the city. 
Suddenly, he saw her: she was 
ravishingly beautiful. And naked. 
He knew he should look away. 
But there is something about a 
beautiful woman’s naked body that 
takes hold of a man’s senses. 
He hurried inside and came out again 
with a pair of binoculars. 
He stood there, watching her through 
the binoculars as she took her bath. 
And he was hooked! Who is she? 
He later found out she was the wife 
of one of his mighty men: Uriah.
He wanted her.
He sent for her.
He got her.
He took her.
He kissed her.
She resisted briefly.
She succumbed.
They had hot, passionate an
d mind-blowing sex…
 
22nd January:
Bathsheba sent a Whatsapp message 
to King David: “I am pregnant, your
 majesty.” David read it. 
He responded: “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. 
I will figure something out”. 
Bathsheba replied, “Ok, your majesty. 
Would you want me to abort it?” 
David typed back: “I will get back to 
you asap. 
Trust me- I am King David, 
I handled Goliath, I can handle this”. 
Bathsheba loved his confidence. 
Indeed, he is King David- why else 
would she sleep with him, despite 
having a husband?
 
24th January:
“He’ll be on his way immediately, sir” 
General Joab said. He cut the call. 
He had no idea why King David asked 
him to send Colonel Uriah to the palace. 
They were prosecuting a war and he 
needed his best soldiers on the war
 front- and Uriah was one of the best. 
He sent for him. “The C-in-C asked 
you to report in the Palace.”. 
Uriah left the battlefield immediately…
 
27th January:
Joab read the note again and again. 
He wondered what was going on. 
A few days ago, the King sent for Uriah. 
Today, Uriah is back- with a note 
from the King, asking him (Joab) to 
put him (Uriah) in the hottest battle 
and make sure he is killed by the 
enemy! 
Joab wondered why the King wanted 
Uriah dead. What did he do to have 
fallen out with the king? Well, he
 was not in a position to disobey 
orders, so, he did as the king 
commanded… Uriah died in battle 
that day.
 
 
 
15th April:
There was another Royal Wedding in 
Jerusalem: King David got married to 
Bathsheba, Uriah’s widow. 
General Joab was one of the Grooms 
Men. 
As he stood there watching the king 
take on another wife, his mind was 
filled with thoughts of his gallant 
soldier, Uriah. 
So, this is what it’s all about, he thought…
 
15th October:
Bathsheba fell into labour. She was 
rushed to the hospital and she 
delivered a baby boy.
 
30th October:
Prophet Nathan paid King David a visit. 
He told him a parable to let him know 
the gravity of his sin against God. 
David said, “I HAVE SINNED AGAINST 
THE LORD!!!!” (2nd Samuel 12:13).
Prophet Nathan said something 
strange: “THE LORD HAS TAKEN 
AWAY YOUR SIN…!”
Woah!
When?
David just ACKNOWLEDGED his sin! 
He hadn’t even asked God for 
forgiveness!
God had forgiven him! When exactly? 
January? February? March? April? 
May? June? July? August? September?
 October? God forgave David 
BEFORE he asked for forgiveness!
David understood this, so he wrote, 
“Blessed is the man whose sin 
the Lord will not hold against 
him…” (Psalm 32:2).
 
I have come to realize the reason 
God will not count a man’s sin against 
him is because of His MERCY.
God is a merciful God.
I have also come to realize mercy is 
like airtime on your phone: you can 
load it, you can exhaust it. 
It’s like your prepaid meter: your 
units can reduce to zero and the 
lights go out: but you can buy 
more units.
 
Recently, I was at home and power 
went out. Naturally, I assumed 
there was a power cut. 
I went out an hour later and I 
noticed my neighbors air conditioners 
were on! 
I went to check the meter: my units 
were down to zero! My neighbor’s 
meter had over 200 units! 
Same building (a row of terraces), 
different amounts of units in our meters.
Ethan the Ezrahite wrote,
 “Mercy is built up forever…” -Psalm 89:2. 
That suggests to me mercy can be 
increased and decreased, just like 
the units in my prepaid meter.
David committed adultery with 
Bathsheba. 
He also committed murder. 
But God took away his sin- he had 
a large dose of Mercy Units! 
King Saul did far less than David and 
God took away the Kingdom from him.
Apparently, Saul had zero Mercy Units.
 
Now, why were David’s Mercy Units 
so much? If you read those Psalms he 
wrote, you will understand why. 
David prayed. David wrote and sang 
songs to God. 
David was vulnerable before God. 
David loved God. 
David depended on God…
 
It is instructive to note that when 
Prophet Nathan told him God’s verdict 
concerning his indiscretion, David 
penned Psalm 51 as his prayer for 
forgiveness: he started with 
“HAVE MERCY ON ME O GOD…”! 
David knew his Mercy Units have 
depleted seriously and he needed 
to build it up again.
 
I have come to understand that a 
man can commit a sin and God deals 
with him: another commits same sin
 and God overlooks it. 
Is God partial? No. 
He says, “I will have mercy on whoever 
I choose to have mercy on” -Romans 9:15. 
It’s simply the mercy units of both 
men that decides God’s reaction.
 
How then do we increase our Mercy 
Units? Mercy Units can be increased 
by toeing David’s path: prayer, 
fellowshipping with God, praise and 
worship. 
Paul and Silas realized this when 
they were jailed: they prayed and 
sang- Mercy showed up! (Acts 16:25,26).
Scripture says, “Blessed are the merciful, 
for they shall obtain mercy” -Matthew 5:7.
Mercy Units can also be increased 
by simply showing mercy to others.
May we drink from the fountain of 
God’s mercy when we need it!
Amen.
 
Shalom!
Haruna Daniels.