Are You “Beloved” By The Lord?

By Odon Bulamba (24 May 2002)

I thank the Lord our God because His Word says that when two or three are gathered together He is among them. This morning I thought more about cemeteries and I thought about how many people this earth has swallowed up already. Since the beginning of this planet earth, millions if not billions, have died already, yet the earth still cries out for bodies. I praise the Lord because the earth swallows up the body but cannot swallow the soul, so blessed are those who have died in the Lord.

I have the joy of telling you that God really loves you and one day you will inherit the kingdom of God, so I look forward to meeting you in eternity where we can sing and praise our Lord, Amen. We are going to look at Solomon’s life which means, loved by the Lord.

2 Samuel 12:24-25, “then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and lay with her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him: and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah”.

One day king David went up to his roof and saw Uriah’s wife Bathsheba taking a bath, and king David envied her. So king David thought of a way to kill Uriah so that he could have his wife. David had Uriah killed by putting him on the front line of battle and he died. Then David took Bathsheba and she fell pregnant to him. Shortly after the baby was born it became ill, so David went to the Lord and humbled himself by telling God what he had done was wrong. David thought by fasting and praying God would take away his punishment. Bathsheba had children to Uriah but David didn’t say sorry to them for killing their dad and he didn’t say sorry to Bathsheba for killing her husband, he didn’t go to Uriah’s family to say sorry for the way he died, nor did he go to the army and say sorry to all the soldiers, but David decided to fast and go to God for forgiveness.

The Bible says in Matthew 5:23-24, “therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother: then come and offer your gift”.

If you have sinned against your brother go and ask him for forgiveness before asking God, and if you don’t, God will remind you what is written in Matthew 5:23-24.

David prayed for a week without eating or sleeping, and David’s servants feared for his life because he was in a bad condition. However by the grace of God David overheard a conversation by his servants and he understood that he was wasting his time, so he had a bath and his life started over again. David didn’t realise that Bathsheba needed comfort because of what happened to Uriah, but when David knew he was wrong he went to her and comforted her.

It is the same for us Christians, when we hurt people we forget they need comfort because we only think they need comforting when things go wrong. As Christians we pick and choose who we want to ask for forgiveness. Example: if you do something wrong against your boss you will go to him and ask him for forgiveness, but when it comes to asking someone low or poor in society, we don’t have the time. As Christians we are called to comfort others because we must reflect the Holy Spirit in our lives, and we all know the Holy Spirit is the comforter, so because we have received this comfort from the Holy Spirit we must also give it freely to others.

When I was 24 years old we use to perform plays for those who had problems and they would pay us do make them laugh. This just shows us how people want to find comfort and joy in man, but remember that Jesus Christ is the source of joy and if we give Jesus Christ to these people, they will be very happy.

David had another child and called him Solomon because God promised him. God sent Nathan the prophet to tell David that he loved Solomon and had to change his name to Jedidiah that means loved by the Lord. Are you beloved by the Lord? Are you sure that you are loved by the Lord? If not, why? If yes, how? You must know the reason why you are loved.

Sometimes in my country we would talk to the young children about the Word of God, and one day I asked them a question, “if you commit yourself to love someone you must know why because if you don’t know, it can be dangerous”. I asked those who were engaged to tell me why they loved each other? Some said they couldn’t explain it and others said they just feel it in their hearts, so because they were young and didn’t really know, I asked those who were married. Do you love your wife sir? How big is your love for her? He said that it was bigger then planet earth. So why do you love her? She is beautiful and she works well in the house. This man forgot that love is a grace because the Bible says blessed is the man who finds a wife in his youth, and blessed is the man who finds a wife in the Lord.

Proverbs 27:15, “a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day”:

A woman can be pretty but if she speaks too much you will never have peace, even if you have loved her for two or three years, your love won’t be great and sometimes husbands flee their homes to get away from them. Husbands might be patient with a parrot in their home but when their wives speak they want to flee, why? Because we don’t know what love means.