The strange thing is that when others would have rebelled, David did not rebel. When others would have been disappointed, David was not disappointed. When others would have murmured, David did not murmur. When the child died, his servants were afraid to break the news to him. They thought that if David had been so overwhelmed with anxiety when the child fell sick, his grief would be insupportable when he learned of the child's death. What happened? "Then David rose up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went to the house of Jehovah and worshipped. Then he went to his house; and when he requested it, they set food before him, and he ate" (v. 20). Worship is bowing to the ways of God. When we submit to the ways of God, this is worship. It is refraining from disappointment and murmuring. It is, henceforth, not being negative, nor arguing with God. Instead, it is saying, "God, You are right in this." This is worshipping God's ways.

It is often necessary for God to do many things to us to vindicate Himself. Do we understand the meaning of this? God often has to vindicate Himself by making it clear to the angels, to the devil, to the world, and to all His children that He has no part in our sin. When we fail, fall, and do certain things, God's governing hand must come in to vindicate Himself by showing all the angels, demons, worldly people, and the church that He has no part in our action. For this reason, God places us in the fire, and His governing hand is upon us; He does not let us off. How do we react at such times? Those who know and love God, those who have a revelation of Him and have seen His appearing, will bow before God and say, "If my suffering vindicates Your holiness, then I say, `Amen.' If You can make known Your righteousness by my tribulations, then I acknowledge that You do all things well. If Your nature can be vindicated in this way, I gladly accept the sufferings You give me." This is the way to worship God.

Please note that David acted as a normal human being in this experience. I often feel that God's Word shows us people's inner feelings. David was not devoid of love for his child, nor was he lacking in prayer for the boy. He loved his son and prayed for him. He was not devoid of human affections; he was like all other people in the world. Many spiritual people seem to live in an ethereal realm; they do not seem to be living on earth. They do not act like normal human beings but do things in a peculiar manner. In contrast, David was a normal person with human emotions and love. However, when He saw God's ordination in this, he bowed before Him in worship.

May God deliver us from our controversies with Him! We often do not get what we hope, expect, or ask for. If we have the vision, we will say, "God, this is Your way; I bow before You in worship! I know that You are never wrong." Brothers and sisters, let me say again that no one can worship God without submitting to His ways. In order to worship Him, revelation is a basic requirement. In order to worship His ways, subjection is a basic requirement. Apart from revelation, we cannot worship God Himself; apart from subjection we cannot worship His ways. We need to be brought to the point where we say, "God, I submit to You even if You take away what I hold most dear and precious. My submission is worship. You are God; You are never wrong. Your ways are never wrong. I praise You."

I count it as the greatest blessing of my life to have known Miss Barber. Scores of times, perhaps even hundreds of times, I heard her pray, "Lord, I worship You for Your ways." I know these were her deepest, strongest prayers. Scores of times in prayer she said, "God, I praise Your ways." Please remember that God's ways do not always mean a prospering of our ways, nor are they always beneficial to us. God does not always hear our prayer. We may have prayed with fasting, but the child still dies. At this point, we must say, "God I worship you." At such times, we must still worship the ways of God.