2 Samuel 7:1-29
7:1 Perhaps the most inspiring component of David's faith is that he takes time to reflect, in gratitude, on what God has done in his life. David is no longer a child, no longer a young man. He's an adult and has seen trial and tribulation, fear and anxiety, isolation and desperation. His journey of learning and growing has been long and bumpy. David's perseverance through it all is a testament to God's ability to protect His children, guiding and leading them across the deserts, up the mountains and through the storms of life.
For David is taking stock of all that he now has in his life. David marvels at having a home, rest and protection. As a child of God and king appointed by Him, David could have been marveling at people the most powerful king on the planet. Instead, what overwhelms him is having a home and rest. God is our spiritual home and our spiritual rest; because of that we always have shelter, we always have peace. When we accept His rest and His shelter, God builds a home within and around us.
7:2 David is described as a man after God's own heart, Acts 13:22. In this time of home and rest, there is only one thing David is discontented about: God has done so much for him, he feels he has not done enough for God. What a servant of the Lord! For in David's heart, God has done all of the work, and yet it is David and the children of Israel who are reaping the benefits.
In thinking of a way to give back to God, David decides that it is not suitable for him to live in a solid home while the ark of God lives in a tent. God's response to this is so affectionate and selfless.
7:3 David tells his plans to Nathan the prophet. Nathan's response to David is one we can all receive as if he were speaking directly to us: Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. Righteous hearts have free reign and full authority here on earth.
7:4-6 God reaches out to Nathan in response to David. God asks Nathan to explain that though the effort is appreciated, He cannot be contained by a home. He does not need one. He is home. Indeed, He is home. In all the time God has been with the children of Israel, He has never required a permanent residence. Tent and tabernacle have always been enough to house the representation of Him as he travels with His children.
7:7 God reminds David that He has never asked any of His children to built him a house. Realize that God has never asked us for a selfish thing. God only encourages us to do things that are for our own benefit. His commandments are His effort to advocate for us; to set us up in the world to succeed and have joy. From the first verse of Genesis to the last of Revelation, God is building a home. Not for Himself, but for us.
7:8-9 God knows the intricacies of David's journey because He has been in every moment: And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name. David is evidence of the sincerity of God in 1 Peter 5:10. He is strengthening us through the journey; He is catching every tear.
As a shepherd, David exemplified God's spiritual shepherding. And now as a king, David shepherds God's children toward His provision, protection and love. To God, His reward is having well-rested, well-protected, joyful children. God loves to provide for His family, Luke 12:32, Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
It's just like God to turn to situation around the shine light on His child rather than himself. David has these grand plans to build a home for the ark of God but instead, God starts explaining His plans not to receive more but to do more.
7:10 No, instead of having something built for Him, God's plans are to continue building for the children of Israel, our ancestors. For us. For His family. Temporary and makeshift residences are unacceptable to God: His plan is to plant us, root us in permanent safety and love.
7:11 Oh and by the way, God says, I will make you a house. Although He has already built so much, God has plans to further extend the sphere of safety, the boundaries of home. He has plans of provision and prophets to position within our lives. There are so many phases in this project. And with the mutual effort of His co-workers, 1 Corinthians 3:9, he continues to implement them.
7:12 We can imagine that it is with great love and joy that God reveals to David that one of his own children will succeed him as king. Like Hannah, mother of Samuel the prophet, it is so fulfilling to create another faithful servant of God.
7:13 In 1 Kings 1:29-30 we learn who that king will be: Solomon. God tells David that he will allow that son, that king to build a house for His name. When David has fulfilled his days, his purpose on earth and rests with his ancestors, God explains, his son will continue the kingdom he started. With God's help, the kingdom will proliferate in a way that it never has before.
7:14 God promises David that He will deeply love and yet also discipline Solomon when he needs it. The greatest gift any soul could ever receive is the parentage of God. He is so generous but refuses to spoil. He creates strong, sincere and wise children. His blessings come with instruction so that we will know how to wield them, keep them, enjoy them, share them.
David began this communication with God wanting to build something for Him... but we can observe that God has turned that around completely. God is promising blessing after blessing to David. For when we pursue God with our whole heart, God pursues every joy that will make our righteous heart whole, full and heavy with joy. God is a cheerful and generous giver. In 2 Corinthians 9:7 we are taught to be generous givers. We are taught to be what our God already is.
Every time we serve God, God's response is to serve us. He's that selfless. If all we have is a tiny mustard seed, but we place it in His hands, He wraps a bow around a mountain. A massive blessing with our name on it.
7:15 Saul abandoned God and thus deteriorated his faith. He flushed mercy out of his life when he flushed out his effort to be righteous. God promises to be merciful with Solomon; we can imagine that it would be a great relief to David to know that his son will have the cushion of God's compassion and instruction. Mercy is promised to all of God's children who remain righteous. We are fallible. We have shortcomings. As long as our intentions remain righteous, God forgives the mistakes. Helps us to correct the mistakes.
Yes, we are disciplined. It is necessary and beneficial to us. But God promises not to discipline without mercy. Action and reaction, cause and effect... life is a classroom but not without padding, not without direction, when we live life for God.
7:16 God reveals to David: we have started something that will continue forever. Your life is permanent to God. Your impact is eternal. Your influence is infinite. He has plans for your imprint on the earth to matter, even after you've left it. Righteousness creates life of all kinds and keeps on living, growing and spreading.
7:17 Nathan the prophet delivers this heartfelt and selfless message and mission from God to David. Nathan receives the vision God has for David's life... for all life and it is beautiful. So beautiful that David is overcome by emotion. Overcome by God's generosity and love. Overcome by the sheer and massive extent of God's plans.
David spends the rest of the chapter in awe and reverence, love and gratitude.
7:18 David is humbled by God's work and promise in his life. He's baffled by God's generosity: Who am I that you have brought me this far? For God's children, the equation does not compute. We have difficulty understanding how we could possibly be worthy of Him.
Ironically, while God is doing so much to build us up... His love utterly and beautifully strips us... until we a reduced only to praise and worship of Him. Until we are just a soul come out of a body, pumping out love, exuding reverence.
7:19 God's sense of humor is so overwhelmingly gentle... yet wry. He loves to surprise us. Shock us. Exceed our expectations. He loves to do the opposite of what we think we want... to show us that He knew better all along.
In the beginning of the chapter David thought it could not possibly get any better than it was. In the previous chapter he lost himself in worship and celebration of God... overwhelmed by the scale of what God had accomplished (indeed the journey of the children of Israel had made incredible strides: from slavery and destitution to freedom and surplus). And yet in this chapter, God explained that He was just getting started. David's mind is blown.
David is so humbled by God's work in his life that he tries to point out his modest size. David thinks God must have the wrong person... and there again is God's wry sense of humor. He has told us that the least shall be made great and He means it, Matthew 23:12.
You might be little but your faith makes you big. Your may be fractured but your faith will heal you, Mark 5:34. David is here, speaking to God, feeling small and fractured and not understanding why God is loving him as though he is not. We may not ever understand how or why God loves the way that He does; we may never see in ourselves the potential and beauty He sees in us. But whether or not we understand or see the how or why, it's true: He loves us emphatically.
7:20 David feels inadequate. And it's true, we cannot match His perfection. Our best efforts are only little sparks compared to the infinite burning suns of His best. But God has taught us how we can best reciprocate his love: serve others.
Matthew 25:35-40For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
David accurately views his kingship as a position of servitude under God. That uniquely faithful and selfless perspective allows us to give back to God in a substantial way.
7:21 David understands his own personal journey to be an expression of God's intention and philosophy of life. God journeys with each of us to reveal His character and His vision for the earth and heaven. He works tirelessly in the details of our lives for us to understand the master plan of peace.
7:22 And at last David expresses the core of his thoughts: Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You. His ability, generosity, wisdom and compassion is inestimable.
7:23 David also expresses his love for God's people. David is a humanitarian first and king second. It is an honor and a duty to have the responsibility of leading God's people; David appreciates their, our journey of faith. David thinks beyond and before his present self: he appreciates the journey out of Egypt and every effort exerted by God and for God during and since.
7:24 God has indeed claimed us. All of us: the broken and corrupt parts as well as the whole and righteous. He has taken us under His wing of responsibility to love and fix and direct. David contemplates the magnanimity of that. It is wise - and also healing - for us to reflect on it as well.
7:25 David is so ready and willing to continue on this journey with God. Although the plans are massive and David feels inadequate, he knows the capability of God. David has poured his heart and soul out to God: the incredulity, the humility. And now he is ready to continue working, implementing God's will on the earth. Let's do it, he says, exactly as you have planned.
7:26-27 So let your name be magnified forever. God's promises of continued blessings inspire David to speak this one-on-one heart-to-heart prayer to God. David just unzips himself for his soul to step into pure faith. Raw, sincere, intimate communicate with God.
7:28 David makes three proclamations as he closes his prayer: You are God; Your words are true; and You have promised this goodness to your servant. This is a declaration, a mantra that should live in every breath, in and between every heartbeat. Somehow, incredibly, God uses our servitude as an opportunity to serve us.
The depth of mantra is this:
7:29 David prayers for God's presence to remain with this house of His servant. This soul. This life. The whole house and the individual, simultaneously. No separation, ever. David does not understand how he has deserved God's kindness but he prayers to keep it all his life.
7:22 And at last David expresses the core of his thoughts: Therefore You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You. His ability, generosity, wisdom and compassion is inestimable.
7:23 David also expresses his love for God's people. David is a humanitarian first and king second. It is an honor and a duty to have the responsibility of leading God's people; David appreciates their, our journey of faith. David thinks beyond and before his present self: he appreciates the journey out of Egypt and every effort exerted by God and for God during and since.
7:24 God has indeed claimed us. All of us: the broken and corrupt parts as well as the whole and righteous. He has taken us under His wing of responsibility to love and fix and direct. David contemplates the magnanimity of that. It is wise - and also healing - for us to reflect on it as well.
7:25 David is so ready and willing to continue on this journey with God. Although the plans are massive and David feels inadequate, he knows the capability of God. David has poured his heart and soul out to God: the incredulity, the humility. And now he is ready to continue working, implementing God's will on the earth. Let's do it, he says, exactly as you have planned.
7:26-27 So let your name be magnified forever. God's promises of continued blessings inspire David to speak this one-on-one heart-to-heart prayer to God. David just unzips himself for his soul to step into pure faith. Raw, sincere, intimate communicate with God.
7:28 David makes three proclamations as he closes his prayer: You are God; Your words are true; and You have promised this goodness to your servant. This is a declaration, a mantra that should live in every breath, in and between every heartbeat. Somehow, incredibly, God uses our servitude as an opportunity to serve us.
The depth of mantra is this:
- God is the authority and power over and within your life: corruption and fear are inconsequential, powerless in the lives of God's children.
- God is the truth renouncing the way of the world: righteousness, humility and compassion reign, establish law and determine order.
- God has promised that His servants will be served as royalty: sincere work receives seemingly disproportionate blessings.
7:29 David prayers for God's presence to remain with this house of His servant. This soul. This life. The whole house and the individual, simultaneously. No separation, ever. David does not understand how he has deserved God's kindness but he prayers to keep it all his life.
