Where You're Going

John Liddle

You welcome into the Where You’re Going Podcast. I’m your host, John Liddle. Thank you so much for being here. We believe it’s not about where you’ve been. It’s not about where you are right now even. It is about where you’re going, who you’re becoming, and we can always be going to a bigger and better place. Thank you so much for being with us and thank you for following the show so far. We’ve had incredible response to the first few weeks of episodes.

I have learned so much in bringing them to you. Thank you so much to those who have subscribed rated and reviewed the show. If you haven’t done so yet, please subscribe on YouTube and get that alert every single time we put out a new episode. Same thing for Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast, we’re going to be there. Meanwhile, on Apple podcast, you can also review the show as well and we’ve had several people do that. I really appreciate that. I just wanted to share one of those with you today. This one from E Putman.

“John is the real deal. Excited for a podcast that is authentic, relatable and encouraging. This is going to help a lot of people!” Man, I really appreciate that…and I promise it is not about me. It’s about helping others find the show. So please rate and review the show wherever you can. It’s going to help other people find hope and share it individually with people as well. We’ve just had some great episodes along the way last week’s with Julie Bauke. Just incredibly great practical advice on your career and we will get back to the interview shows next week.

But something that’s been on my heart before the podcast even officially launched is to do an episode on if you’re watching on YouTube, this poster back behind me. “Get up, make something new and go to battle.” What does that mean? Well, let’s talk about it here on the Where You’re Going podcast. I told you about in episode one how about three years ago it felt like my life was absolutely falling apart. I was losing my marriage. I felt like it was mostly my fault because of things that I had hidden from my wife. I had not been honest with her and so she decided to end the marriage and that was incredibly difficult for me. And try and try and try as I did…and I did everything I could possibly do from that point forward…it wasn’t something that we were able to work out.

You lose a lot of your identity when things like that happen and you’ve got a choice, right? Do I move forward in life or do I decide that because this markerstone awful thing has happened to me then it’s going to change the trajectory of my life for the negative? And everything that I do from here on out is going to be underneath this shadow of “Well, I’m a divorced guy, or I lost my marriage and it was my fault.” And it wasn’t always easy to make the choice that I was going to move on, and it was going to be for the better. But it was a story from the Bible, actually, that helped me make that decision and make it very strategically in order to move on and move on with confidence. Something I’m still trying to do a better job of today, and I want to relate that to you. So we’re going to be in 2 Samuel today in the Bible. 2 Samuel 11 & 12.

And this is the story of David and Bathsheba. And maybe you’re familiar with it, but here’s the bottom line: David was supposed to be out at war. It starts right there in 11:1, saying that “In the spring, when kings normally go to war, David stayed back at home.” And instead of being out at war doing something productive, he was just strolling along the top of his palace and looked down and saw a beautiful woman bathing. Her name was Bathsheba. And immediately he decided, you know what? I want to be with Bathsheba.

And so whatever was going on through his head at the time, he just thought that that was a good idea. He slept with her and she became pregnant. Well, that was a problem because the husband of Bathsheba was not even at the house at that point. He was out at war. Uriah. And so David tries to cover all this up, and you can go through the story. It was like a lie after lie, cover up after cover up. David was trying to do everything he could to get Uriah back from the battle and to come home and to be with his wife so it looked like the baby was his.

Never happened. Uriah didn’t take the bait. And eventually David kills Uriah in order to cover up the act. So that Uriah wouldn’t be able to say, “Hey, I was never with her and it’s not my baby.” And for David, he thought that that was the best way to go about it, was to cover up his misdeeds with lies and then eventually murder. Wow. So this is King David. This is one of the biggest heroes and God people of the Old Testament.

And he is committing this awful act and then covering it up with awful act after awful act. And to make matters worse, he’s in terrible denial as well, to the point that his best friend, Nathan God, has to tell Nathan, hey, go to David and convince him of what he has done. And so Nathan tells David this whole story, kind of a parable type thing, what would you do if this happened? And David was like, well, obviously I would take that guy and I’d kill him. He’d pay for what he had done. And Nathan said, well, actually, you’re the bad guy in this story. For whatever reason. The bail is finally lifted from his eyes and David can see what he has done and he says, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan’s like, yeah, you’ve sinned against the Lord, there’s no question.

“Here’s the good news, God’s forgiven you. Here’s the bad news, the child that was born to you, the child that Bathsheba just had, well, that child is going to die.” And David absolutely loses it. He doesn’t want this to happen. This is 2 Samuel 12, starting in verse 16. “David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused and he would not eat any food with them.”

And so David just pleaded with God, did everything he could to try to get God to change his mind, basically, and spare the child. And this is what struck me with my story, is that I was cut to the heart. I was in the wrong. I really wanted God to save my marriage. God’s making it more clear to me by the year why it was best that he not save my marriage. But at that time, I didn’t understand it as we were going through the divorce process, I did not want it to happen. Right? And so, my gosh, I did everything I possibly could. I begged, I pleaded, I worshipped, I prayed nonstop, I laid down my preferences, I did everything I knew to do.

And that’s exactly what David did, knowing that his child was about to die. And eventually, just like the child did in the story, my marriage came to an end as well. And right there when the child died, David had a choice. Was he going to just throw God away and throw away this life of worship and this life of sacrifice and trying to do what’s best in God’s eyes? Or was he going to turn his life around? And I had the same choice. My marriage was now dead. So was I going to just go ahead and go about my business and go back to what I was doing before? Because it didn’t really matter anymore. My marriage was dead and so I could live like I wanted to live. Or was I going to do something different this time around? And that’s exactly where I got this back behind me. “Get up, make something new and go to battle!”

Because look at what David did once he found out that the child had died. And by the way, his servants were like, “Hey, don’t tell him the child is dead because he’s just on the floor prostrate. He is going nuts. What is he going to do if the child dies?” Well, once David learns of the child’s death, listen to what he does then. “David got up from the ground. And after he had washed, he put on lotions and he changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Lord, and he worshipped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request, they served him food and he ate.”

So immediately, what did he do? He didn’t wallow anymore. He got up. His attendants asked him, “why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and you wept. But now that the child is dead, you get up and eat.” And he answered, “well, while the child was alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.” I thought, God might let my marriage live. “But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

And so David knew that when something is lost, you don’t have to go on over and over and over again replaying it in your mind. And I’m not saying that I’m perfect at this because sometimes I do replay those things in my mind. It’s getting better over time. But sometimes I do replay those things in my mind that I had done wrong. And I wish I could take them back. But the more I remember this story, the more I remember that “You know what, those sins have been paid for and there were consequences. But I can move on. I can get up.”

Then listen to what David did then. “He comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. And they gave birth to his son. And they named him Solomon.” He made something new! And I don’t totally get this part of the story I’d love to hear in your comments or with an email: whereyouregoingpod@gmail.com why you think that God blessed this relationship between David and Bethsheba even after David had done all these things? Because who is Solomon? Solomon the wisest person that ever lived. Solomon, the man that built the temple.

Solomon is born out of all this. And so that got me thinking, if David can make something new after that, if God can make something new out of this reality that David had created for himself, why can’t he do that for me? Why can’t he do that for you? If you’ve messed up or you have something in your life that you’re mourning, why can’t you get up and make something new? And then finally remember what we said right off the bat was the first mistake that David had made. In the spring, when kings normally go to war, what did David do? He stayed back. Well, this time he went to war. Chapter 12:29 “So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah and attacked and captured it. David took the crown from their king’s head. It was placed on his own head.

“It weighed a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city and brought out the people who were there, cosigning them to labor with saws and iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brick making. David did this to all the Ammonite towns and he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.” He went to battle. He should have been going to battle before, but he went back to battle and God blessed it. And so this for me has been my battle cry, so to speak, over the last two and a half years, to even though this big thing in my life, my marriage came to an end, was dead, just like David’s son was dead. To learn from this story that the only way to go forward is to bounce back by getting up and then to boldly make something new and then continue to go to battle in your life. I had laid down on the job as a husband.

I wasn’t going to battle, but that’s not going to happen anymore. My relationship with God is stronger than it ever has been, and there is always more in that relationship. And I will continue to go to battle in my relationship with God, and I will continue to try to let Him show me parts of myself that can continue to get better, that can continue to expand, that He can continue to grow. So I’m every bit of the man that God wants me to be. So that’s the story for today. Get up, make something new, and go to battle. And when we do that in our life after big setbacks, it can really change everything. Thanks so much for being with us on this solo episode of the Where You’re Going Podcast.

You can find the Where You’re Going Podcast all over the place, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcasts, and so much more. Thank you so much for being with us. We’ll talk to you next week with another interview episode. Make sure to rate and review the show. Subscribe and share if this has made a difference in your life. Remember, it’s not about where you’ve been. It’s not about where you are right now. It’s about where you’re going and who you’re becoming. I’ll talk to you next week.