As President Davids held the dead infant in his arms, unshed
tears burned his eyes. He was too heartsick to find relief through weeping.
Fleetingly he wished for the blessed fellowship he had once known with his Savior
and dearest friend, but the thought didn’t last. I am too far gone to be ever restored into his favor, he sadly admitted.
The last
two years had been fraught with agony. Something he rarely admitted, was been
offended at God for taking his first wife, darling Anita. Since praying wasn’t easy in that state of
mind, he got to spending his spare time doing other things, going to movies,
elite bars, prestigious churches, anywhere where he might find someone who would remind him of Anita,
not that he realized it.
He found
someone, alright, and there was a strong mutual attraction right from “Hello,
my name is…and you are,”
“Of course
I know who you are, “Bethany giggled. “Everyone knows the President!"
They laughed
companionably together, but she did have a way of making it obvious that there
was a ring on her finger. They talked
about her absentee husband, and Davids could sense her dismay that he had been unable
to attend yet another social function. It didn’t
take long to note that her husband, Mr. Douglas, was a conscientious man who put work before
leisure; one whose sole mission in life was to eradicate all the drug trade in
the capital city.
President Davids drew his thoughts back to the
present and handed the baby to his weeping wife, who, as usual refused to look at him.
The gossip mongers
had had a hey-day smearing rumors, and sometimes even the truth of his sins
over the front pages of their cheap magazines. He bitterly admitted that he
deserved the world’s scorn. Oh that Bethany’s beautiful name hadn’t been
coupled with his in their disgrace.
.
Oh, if only
I hadn’t forsaken God. Oh, if only I wouldn’t have wooed Bethany, knowing full
well how vulnerable she was in her lonely estate. Oh, if only I wouldn’t have sentenced
a noble man to sure death by suggesting that he be involved in the sting that
caused him to be murdered. I knew, I knew how the drug lords recognized and
hated him. I knew…Oh why go on.
He sent another covert look his wife’s way. At least she agreed to marry him after Jim’s
funeral, but of course not nearly soon enough to hide the ugly truth. The baby
came far too soon to have been legitimately his.
The agony
was too heavy to bear. A broken man, President Davids collapsed to his knees
beside the open grave while the mourners looked on.
“Have mercy
on me, oh God”, He groaned, as the tears streamed down his cheeks. “I am not
worthy of the least of thy mercies. Take
the presidency from me, let the world mock and scorn, let even Bethany reject
me, but, please, please forgive me. Against thee my Lord and Savior have I
sinned. In thy mercy thou hast taken our darling son although it is so hard to
bear. He would have never received the respect and recognition he deserves
because of our sins. All I ask is to be
restored to thy favor. If I must be stripped of fame and fortune, so be it. You are all I I long for."
As he
buried his face in his hands, he
was unaware of the softening hearts all around him. He was aware, however, when
Bethany knelt beside him and shared his grief and tears of repentance.
Based on the Biblical story of King David and Bathsheba.
