Jedidiah – Beloved of God
2 Sam 12:24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
2 Sam 12:25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.
So here we see an interesting account. David had sinned with Bathsheba, conceived a child, and had her husband murdered. God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David, and execute His judgment upon his house.
The child would die, the sword would not depart from his house, one raised up in his house would openly commit adultery with his wives, but he would live to see it…
Solomon =” peace”
Jedidiah =” beloved of Jehovah”
Solomon was to become the next king of Israel, and God loved him.
Yet I have discovered this about leadership. Sometimes the dealings of God in the life of a leader are excruciating, brutal beyond compare to one looking from the outside into a life. May God grant us many, many pillow people in our lives: people of great love, peace, grace, that we can find some degree of comfort and support from, as the severe dealings of Holy Spirit are written upon our hearts…
Sure we are called, but it is never about us. God loves each person we are called to lead, just as much as us, and in this case, I see the governmental dealings of Israel being worked out, through the life of David.
David was needed to govern Israel still, there was no one else yet qualified to bear the responsibility, and Solomon was chosen as his successor.
Yet, there was an immorality problem in the royal family. David, the desert warlord, had multiple wives and concubines, that were never the will of God. Just because God allows something, does not mean He ordains it, as His highest and best.
The new and better covenant was to come to humanity, through the everlasting shed blood of Jesus, and in this covenant God shows a better (His original) way for marriage and family.
1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:12 Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
1Ti 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Tit 1:6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
Leaders are to be married to one person, not multiple spouses.
Obviously, we have deeper emotional needs for intimacy, than our spouse is designed to meet, and these raging hungers are not to be met in other romantic relationships but one, there is a passion and intimacy with Jesus and the Father, that will truly meet these needs, and they can only be met legitimately in Him alone!
In battle, and in leadership, there are intense pressures, responsibilities, wars fought, that produce a weariness of soul that only God and leaders of equal responsibility understand.
In those cored out, poured out seasons, when we have given our all, there is some comfort to be obtained from our spouses, but God is a jealous God. He alone can provide for us the deeper needs for love, intimacy, and understanding we require, when all human comfort has failed…
David, and Solomon did not fully understand this, and took to themselves multiple wives, probably longing to have these legitimate emotional needs met, the intimacy experienced in marriage and sexual intimacy, the closest thing on earth, to the true intimacy we are created to experience from God Himself.
There is power in words!
There has been much teaching on the power of words, because it is true that if we rule our words, we rule our lives.
Words have power, they are containers, and they are the way that God accomplishes His purposes in the earth.
Words produce faith, and faith moves mountains, and brings into the earth the power and provisions of God.
When something God desires is not happening, He puts His word in the mouth of His servant, and it comes to pass.
God had made a promise to Abram,(exalted father) that he would become the father of many nations, the father of multitudes.
It was not coming to pass.
So God appeared to him, and told him to change his name to Abraham, (Father of many nations).
Now, every time Abraham’s name was called, faith was released in the earth, that indeed the promise of God was still alive.
God ever watches over His word to perform it, and with everyone calling Abram, Abraham, His word was being spoken not only by Abraham, but by everyone who called his name!
So it was to be in the birth of Solomon.
I can imagine David’s anguish, regret, guilt. He had murdered his own trusted soldier, his son was dead, his name was disgraced, and the prophet had spoken.
Trying to do damage control, he decided to marry Bathsheba, and love her, and try to do right with what was a mess….
And God, whose nature is love, blessed him. He gave them another son, and He loved the child.
Here is where the story gets interesting and personal for me.
At the birth of the child, everyone was rejoicing, and David named the child, Solomon, because with all he had been through, he just wanted peace…
Been there….
Yet, horror upon horror, there is a knock at the door, and Nathan the prophet stands there.
The last time the Scripture describes Nathan showing up at the door, it was to tell the story of the sheep, and point his boney finger, and declare the judgment of God upon David and his house…
I can only imagine the trembling fear in David’s guts in seeing Nathan there…What have I done now?
Yet, it is not judgment this time, but blessing and direction, not only for David, but for Israel.
The child was accepted by God, loved, and they were to name the boy ‘Jedidiah’.
Here is where the revelation part comes.
God loved David, and He loves Israel.
He saw David’s immorality, and knew not only what David was doing, but why.
He wanted to meet the deepest needs of David’s heart, and He wanted Israel to be His example of honor, holiness, blessing and prosperity to all the nations of the earth.
De 26:19 And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.
He knew this immorality in David, would be transferred by example to his son.
He wanted to stop it.
So, He sent His word, through the prophet Nathan, ‘Name the child, Jedidiah’.
Why?
Could it be that God saw the deep, unmet emotional needs in David’s heart, for intimacy, love, acceptance and approval, and in His love, longed to meet these?
The word ‘Jedidiah’ literally means: ‘beloved of God’
Had David obeyed God through the prophet Nathan, in calling those things that be not as though they were, naming Solomon, Jedidiah, that the deep emotional needs for love and intimacy that God knew Solomon would surely have, would be met directly by Himself.
That every time the name Jedidiah was called, God would perform this word, and draw near to Solomon in intimate love, and his deep hungers and emotional needs would be legitimately met in God, instead of his 1000 wives and concubines.
Then, the nation of Israel would be preserved, blessed, prospered, ‘in praise, and in name, and in honour;’ as God had ordained from the time of Moses.
Indeed, there is power in words!
Why is this so personal in my life?
Many years ago, I had a radical conversion experience with Jesus, after a suicide attempt on a bridge. Within a couple of months, I began to attend a spirit filled church, and I met a beautiful single mom, who had a toddler. We began to hang out, and we fell in love. I asked her to marry me, yet we had several disagreements, and decided to place our relationship on the altar, and wait upon the Lord.
I honestly thought it would only be for a couple of months, so I continued to press into the call of God upon my life, with purpose, passion, and great zeal.
I was at a revival tent meeting in Renfrew, Ontario, sitting under some incredibly anointed men and women of God. Bob Birch the prophet, Carter Conlon, Pat Francis, and the Holy Spirit was moving with great, great power there.
I had two power encounters with the Lord, that have changed my life forever:
The first, was in response to a message preached on ‘Developing the Heart of Moses’, with an alter call in response to: ‘Moses was described as the meekest man on the face of the earth, yet God developed him over 40 years in the desert, how many are willing to spend 40 years in the desert if necessary, to fully prepare for the call of God upon their lives’
I answered that alter call, in 1989, and God spoke to me clearly these words: ‘I have seen the sincerity of your heart before me, and I have answered your prayer. What I did in Moses in 40 years, I will do in you in ten.’
God has fulfilled that word exactly. In May of 1999, I graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center, after sojourns studying with Elim, and Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Yet, the preparation was far more than study. During these years I drove a school bus, buried my parents, and flowed in the Toronto Blessing. Myriad, multiple power encounters with Holy Spirit, and countless stacks of books, videos, and teaching series are inside of me, and I still continue to hunger and grow in the things of God.
Yet, there was a second revelation granted to me at that time. I was to end the relationship with my fiancé, and place my love for her and her son upon the alter. When I did this, in brokenness, tears, and anguish too deep for words, again God spoke to me a precious promise: ‘I have given you a son, and you shall call him Jedidiah’
Many times over the years, in deep worship or prayer, Holy Spirit has repeated this promise.
It began in 1989!
I was so crushed by this broken engagement that I refused to date, or have anything to do with women for many years.
Yet, in 1998, God brought Karen into my life, and three days after graduation we were married in the Rhema Bible Chapel.
Off we went to go back to my hometown to pioneer a church
On Jan 21st 2002, God graciously granted us a beautiful princess, Keila Anne Nicole, a complete and wonderful surprise to me, and a total gift of God, my precious princess!
Oct 22nd, 2004, Jedidiah Christopher Walsh was born, in fulfillment of the Word of the Lord to me in 1989.
Indeed he is a son of love, incredibly gifted in music, computers, and giving.
He is ten now, and it remains to be seen the great and mighty things God has for him in the earth….
Yet, as I soliloquy away my testimony, Holy Spirit has directed me to speak to you, personally today.
There are precious promises from God for your life! You are not an accident, a mistake. If you, like David and Solomon have been searching for love in all the wrong places, know this: God is not mad at you. He sees not only what you have done, but more importantly, why. He knows the deepest needs of your heart, and is determined to meet them, whether you are married, single, or in the insane whirlwind that an immoral lifestyle has created in your life. He is the answer, not another human relationship, in fact, it is only when you make your peace with Him, and get your deepest longings for intimacy, acceptance, understanding legitimately met in Him, that you can truly enjoy healthy relationship in your marriage, family, or friendships…
Let’s Pray:
‘Father, meet with us today. Grant us savage breakthroughs of Your love, intimacy, acceptance, Your demonstrated natural affection, affirmation, approval, and understanding. Cause us to hear Your voice Lord Jesus, and touch the deepest parts of our soul, our spirit, our hungers….Only in You are we complete, complete us today Holy Spirit, recreate us, forgive us, make us the person of honor, dignity, respect You have created us to be. Wash us from our pain, our sick secrets, our shame, and defilement s, that we can walk with clear eyes, boldness, peace, confidence, in obedience to You, the purpose for which You have created us, in this, our generation, Amen’