I Didn’t Know What I Had Until…
In reading Psalm 51 recently, I was reminded of David’s remorse for what he had done. He had disobeyed God by committing sin with Bathsheba and trying to cover it up by having her husband, Uriah, killed. He then proceeded to take Bathsheba as his wife. Second Samuel 11 ends with these words, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Sam. 11:27).
We all remember how God sent Nathan to David to tell him that he was the man with whom God was displeased. The account tells us of all the things that God had given David (2 Sam. 12:7-8). The chapter continues with all the charges God had against David and the penalties he would suffer because of his actions (12:9-14).
As I thought about all that God had given David in life and the relationship that David had with God, I wondered why he would have done what he did. By his actions, he lost that relationship with God and he and his family suffered many consequences for years.
Have you ever lost something you had, only to realize later how much it meant to you? We all could answer yes to that question. Here are just a few of the things that came to my mind:
- Often, we lose the joy of the stage of life we happen to be in because we spend all our time wanting to grow up! We miss being a child because we want to be a teenager; we miss our teen years because we want to be in college; we miss our college experience because we want to be out on our own; we miss our single years because we want to be married; we miss the joy of our early years of marriage because we want to have children; and on and on it goes until we grow old and realize we missed out on so much because we didn’t take the time to enjoy each stage of life. We didn’t know what we had until…
- Sometimes, dating couples miss out on the importance of getting to know each other as individuals because they rush toward marriage since that’s the next step in life. They didn’t take the time to enjoy the freedoms of being individuals and slowly working toward the more serious relationship of marriage. They didn’t know what they had until…
- There are times when young married couples rush into having children before they even have time to enjoy just being a young married couple and the freedom that entails. They fail to see the importance of meshing their individual routines and finding what works best for them as a couple. It takes time to really get to know this person you have married. You may think you know them just from dating, but that just isn’t the case! When you add the responsibility of taking care of a baby, your time as a couple diminishes. You didn’t know what you had until…
- And then comes the time when year after year of marriage goes on and often turns into a routine of drudgery. The bills begin to come in and the cost of everything goes up. The newness of marriage has long been gone and taking care of children and a house is hard work. You may even grow apart as a couple because you seem to spend less and less time together. When temptation comes along for one or both of you, it is sometimes easy to look at how routine your life has become, and the joy and excitement of life seems to be gone. You give in to the excitement and temptation of another person. The marriage ends and another home is destroyed. After this new exciting life wears off, you may realize what you gave up. You didn’t know what you had until…
We could go on and on with example after example of times when we rushed into things without serious thought – that different job we thought would be so much better, that move we made looking for happiness, that car we bought when we couldn’t afford it, etc.
I’ve heard it said, “I didn’t know what I had until it was gone.” Sometimes after it is gone, it can’t be reclaimed.
Help us all to look at our lives and realize what a blessing they are from God. Help us enjoy every day we are given and spend time thinking about what we have right now. Don’t wake up some day and say, “I didn’t know what I had until it was gone.”
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
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AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
