God Of My Journey by Pastor Jerry Eze: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Context: A Journey Nobody Planned

2 Samuel 11:1-5

Bathsheba never made up her mind to get into a complex situation. She was simply having a shower. All of a sudden, King David saw her from his vantage point on the palace roof and sent for her. As the situation was being said, Bathsheba herself was also saying she should have said no. But this was a man of whom even God said he was a man after his own heart. Read the Psalms and consider the lines David gave God. This was a man who came from the bush at the time of his anointing looking like he had come from a palace. Now in the palace, how would he have been looking?

Bathsheba found herself in a complex situation she did not plan. The rest is history. He slept with her, packaged her back home, and then she came back and said it was not that simple. She was pregnant. Complication upon complication.

David's plan to cover it up began: bring the husband back from the battlefield, get him drunk, send him home to sleep with his wife, so that the child could be attributed to Uriah. But Uriah would not go home. He slept at the gate, saying he could not go to comfort while the ark of the covenant was still in the field. And then David wrote the letter: put this man in the hottest part of the battle. Uriah carried his own death warrant back to the front.

If this came out on social media, Bathsheba could not defend herself. Her life automatically became complicated. Things she never prepared for, never bargained for, never predicted had happened. She was in the middle of a situation she could not explain, wondering whether she would ever come out of it.

This is the way some people's journeys are. Things you never prepared for. Things you never bargained for. Things you never thought would happen in your life.

What God Does With the Child of Complication

Uriah was dead and gone. Bathsheba was with a man she was not even sure she loved. Something kept reminding her of the mistake. A child was there as a constant reminder of what went wrong, of unfaithfulness, of a gallant soldier who refused to go home and sleep with his wife while the ark of the Lord was still out there in the field.

God looked at that child and said: Bathsheba, your choices may not have been perfect. But this child that will keep taking you back to what has gone wrong, I will take him out, because I am the God of your journey. David kept praying for the child to live, but God said no. The child would be a symbol of negativity, a constant reminder of the time she failed. And so God took the child.

As soon as the child died, David washed himself and stood up and said they were done with that page.

Anything in your journey that points you to your mistake. Anything that has refused to leave you alone so that you cannot move to a higher season, whether your mother did it, your father did it, you did it, or your friends did it, any addiction from secondary school, from primary school, from university that has become an inhibition, let it be broken. Let it be reversed. If it is an addiction, let it die. If it is imagination, let it die. If it is a thought process, let it die. If it is an evil covering, let it die. If it is an atmosphere of negativity, let it disappear, in the name of Jesus.

What God Wants to Live: Wisdom

After killing what came out of the mistake, God then said: let me begin with what needs to live. The name of what needs to live was called Solomon.

God said to Bathsheba, you do not understand what I want to live first. Bathsheba was still wondering until the day Solomon decided to offer sacrifices. God asked Solomon what he wanted. Solomon said he did not want anything except wisdom. And God said, this will live.

For every mistake, pick wisdom, because the next one might be disastrous.

Pick wisdom, for wisdom is profitable to direct. Your ear will hear a voice from behind saying, this is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right and when you turn to the left. Pick wisdom because it is wisdom God wants to live. God said: that one that came because you did not know what you were doing, I have handled it, it is over, that chapter is closed. But what you need to get right now is wisdom.

Bathsheba was about to miss it again. She went to Solomon and said: dearest son, there is an emergency, Adonijah your brother, please, I am begging. Solomon looked at her and said: Mother, nobody talks like that. This is an enemy. Do not beg me on his behalf, because what you do not understand is that this wisdom is alive. I will not let you make your enemy your friend.

One had to die. And this one is not in the program of God for my life. Lord, if it will hurt me, let it die. If it will derail my future, let it go. But the next thing you are teaching me is wisdom.

What wisdom did you take out of what did not work yesterday? Is it not about time you know God? If it is not by your spirit, if it is not by your hand, do not let me have it. That is the wisdom that has been learned.

Out of the Mess, a King

Even though Uriah was dead, his name was still attached to Bathsheba in the genealogy. Matthew 1:6: David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Uriah. God's way of saying: the warrior in him prepared you for the destiny you and I have. The warrior in my son came from that connection. Do not forget the warrior you need to be connected to. Do not forget your true destiny. You were wired to be a warrior.

Your being part of Uriah's life was just a pointer to the new things about to happen in your life.

Nathan came to Bathsheba in 1 Kings 1:11, saying: hast thou not heard that Adonijah is reigning and our lord David does not know it? Now therefore come, let me give thee counsel that thou mayest save thy own life and the life of thy son Solomon.

Nathan said: while you are talking with the king, I will come in. While you are still talking, I promise you I will come in. This journey must be realized. He said: I am giving you instructions but while you are there talking, I will give my support.

You will not walk alone. While you are speaking, I will be the second voice. That voice, that help that will make you know you are not alone, that voice that will arise for you to show you are not alone, let them show up in your life right now, in the name of Jesus.

The Woman Who Failed Became the Teacher of Wisdom

The Bible tells us something amazing about this woman. Every Bible student remembers Proverbs 31. The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. If you are a Bible student, you know that Lemuel is Solomon.

So this woman who failed at some point in her life had a prophecy to teach her child. The words she taught Solomon included: give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.

She may not have taken off as a virtuous woman, but she was going to teach her son about a virtuous woman.

Just because you did not tick off the box does not mean you cannot speak about it. It is not hypocrisy. It is simply saying: I am no longer where I used to be. I no longer make the mistakes I used to make.

Some parents, every time they want to talk to their children about something they are doing wrong, the devil says: but remember your own time. Do not let that stop you. Bathsheba was going to teach her son what she had learned. The wisdom of what she produced was found in Proverbs 31.

Just in case you want to celebrate that Solomon was a wise man, even his mother Bathsheba became a wiser woman.

Out of what the enemy meant for evil, out of every ordinance of hell, out of your failure, out of every shame, let a miracle come out of there. Let a mighty miracle come out of it right now. The number of your scars is the number of your victories. Out of what the enemy tried to scatter, I came to let you know the mess is all part of the story. But God says: allow me to work it out. Release it to him. Offer it as a sacrifice. My guilt I give you. My shame I give you. My failure I give you. Whatever you want to do with it, do.

The enemy has tried to mess with your journey. Bath Sheba featured prominently in the genealogy of Jesus. God chose the womb of a woman whose entrance into the royal family was complicated. And said: you will carry the king. Out of this thing that just happened, out of what came to spoil my journey, out of the conspiracy, out of my failure, something great will come out of it. Your restoration time has come. It is your season. This is your time. This is your moment.