Month: July 2015

Greatly To Be Praised.

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I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. – Psalm 145:1-3 ESV

Psalm 145

David loved God. In fact, he talked about Him and to Him constantly. God seemed to be on David’s mind a lot. Maybe it was because he knew just how much he needed God. He seemed to have a firm grasp on the reality of his dependence upon God – for everything. God had chosen him while he was just a shepherd boy and transformed him into the king of Israel. God had given David victory over Goliath, the Philistines, Saul and a host of other enemies. God had spared David from the full ramifications of his own sin with Bathsheba and allowed him to continue his reign as king. David had much to be grateful for and he constantly praised God for who He was and for all He had done. David extolled God. He lifted Him up, exalted Him and gave Him the glory and honor due Him. He didn’t treat God flippantly or casually. David refused to see God as common place or take Him for granted. In David’s estimation, God was great and greatly to be praised. As a matter of fact, God’s greatness was unsearchable. In other words, you could never plumb the depths of His greatness. Just when you think you know how great God is, He surprises you. God’s greatness isn’t limited or exhaustible. He doesn’t run out of wonders or miracles to perform – a fact that David had experienced personally, time and time again.

Here was David the king of Israel acknowledging Yahweh as his God and as his King. David would not have used the term “king” lightly. He was a king himself and he knew well the implications of that title. God was sovereign. He was the ruler over everyone and everything, including David himself. God was not just a deity to be worshiped, but a King to be honored and obeyed. God’s word was final. His majesty was incomparable. There was no other king who could compare to Him, including David. God was great and He deserved David’s praise, and David was more than happy to give it – each and every day of his life.

But what about us? Do we find God great and greatly to be praised? Is He worthy of our adoration, honor and daily praise? Do we think enough of Him or about Him that it results in us telling Him how much we love Him? Sometimes our problem is that we don’t give God enough thought. We allow our minds to be occupied with thoughts of anything and everything but God, including ourselves. We can end up praising all kinds of things but God. But David would remind us that God alone is worthy of our praise. He would encourage us to recognize and appropriately respond to the greatness of God. And he would have us see God as not only as a great God, but as our King. Recognition of God’s sovereignty and rule over our lives includes submission to His will for our lives. It entails giving up our rights for His righteous rule over every area of our lives. David was king, but he knew that his reign was subject to God’s. Any authority he enjoyed was God-ordained and could be removed by God at His discretion. David’s greatness was solely due to God’s goodness and graciousness. God had made him king. God had blessed his kingship. God had given him victory over his enemies. God had made him powerful. So God was worthy of honor and praise. Our failure to recognize God’s greatness can result in a tendency toward self-exaltation. We can begin to believe that we are responsible for our own achievements. We can end up taking credit for who we are and all that we have done. But an awareness of God’s greatness keeps us from becoming enamored with our own significance. All that we have and all that we are we owe to Him. He alone gives life and breath. He alone sustains and blesses. He alone does mighty deeds. He alone is worthy to be praised. But the truth is, we only praise that for which we are grateful and that holds our affections. So we praise our health, our homes, our jobs, our material possessions, our family and our own accomplishments – forgetting that we owe it all to God. He is great and greatly to be praised. He is our God and King. Every day we wake up, we should offer Him the praise, honor and gratitude He so richly deserves. And no matter how often we praise Him, we will never run out praiseworthy  things for which to honor Him. Because His greatness is unsearchable.

Job Security.

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O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. – Psalm 71:18-19 ESV

These two simple verses found in Psalm 71 have struck a chord with me. Maybe it’s because I turned 60 this year and the mention of old age and gray hairs felt a bit too personal. But I think what really impacted me was the sense of passion the Psalmist felt for God. He had sensed God teaching him from his earliest memories as a young man. And now that he was an older man, he was still proclaiming the wonders of God. There is a sense of continuity in his words. He and God had a relationship that ongoing and always evolving. The psalmist felt a responsibility to tell others about the goodness and greatness of God. He was not content to merely receive God’s blessings and enjoy His presence in his life. He had to tell someone. And the older he got, the greater his resolve to proclaim the greatness of God became. The years were increasing his passion rather than diminishing it. Each passing year simply provided more personal testimonies of God’s wondrous deeds to share with others.

There is a sense in which our primary job description as God’s creation is to tell of His greatness. We are to declare His glory. The Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it this way: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” We exist to glorify God and our job is never done because God’s glory is inexhaustible. We will never run out of reasons to praise Him. We will never run short of His great deeds to proclaim. Because God never rests. He never takes a day off. He never ceases to perform wonders on behalf of His children. The problem is not that God is silent or still, but that we too often fail to recognize all that He is doing all around us. We can also lose sight of our primary function as His creatures: to glorify Him.

I think the thing about these verses that struck a chord with me was the intentionality and passion they express. Here is a man who recognized the influence of God over his life, but who also recognized his own responsibility to tell others about it. He had a lifelong duty to proclaim all that he knew about God to everyone he met. And he was asking God to keep him at it well into his “golden years”. There is no sense of retirement in his words. He isn’t looking to coast into old age. He realized he has a God-given responsibility to proclaim God’s might to the generation to come. Each generation of believers has the responsibility to share with those who come after them, to “tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done” (Psalm 78:4 ESV). Old age is no excuse to slow down or give up. To our final dying breath, we should be telling the next generation all that we know about God. And the longer we live, the more we should have to share. As the number of our days remaining decrease, our determination to tell others about God’s wonders should increase, so “the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God” (Psalm 78:6-7 ESV).

All of those reminds me of a verse in the early chapters of the book of Judges that sets up the sad story that was to follow. It simply says, “After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10 NLT). One generation had failed to tell the next, and the result was a new generation that had no real knowledge of God. The rest of the book of Judges tells us how that generation abandoned God and served false gods. One generation had failed the next. They hadn’t done their job. And the consequences were serious. The book of Judges closes with a sobering message. “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (judges 21:25 NLT). Not only did they have no human king, they failed to recognize God as King. Each man and woman lived with their eyes focused on themselves. They had become their own personal kings reigning over their petty kingdoms of one. All because one generation had failed to do its job. Could the same thing happen in our day? I believe it already is. But it is not too late. Those of us with graying hair and diminishing strength still have an opportunity to make a difference. We may be working less, but our work is far from done. We must tell the next generation about the greatness and goodness of God. We must proclaim His wonders and give testimony to His unfailing faithfulness.

Growing old is no excuse for growing complacent. We have a job to do and God has not given us permission to retire or renege on our responsibility. Increasing years should only increase our sense of urgency. Our time is running out. We must take advantage of every day that God gives us to proclaim His might to another generation, His power to all those to come.

The Rest of the Story.

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Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. – Acts 9:13-14 ESV

Ananias was a disciple of Jesus living in the city of Damascus. One particular morning, he received a vision from God, who told him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,  and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight” (Acts 9:11-12 ESV). Now you would have thought that Ananias, having just received a direct command from God, would have immediately done what he had been told to do. But instead, Ananias expressed his surprise and apprehension at the news he had just heard. God was asking him to go and visit a religious vigilante, someone who had hired himself out to the high priest and rulers on the Jews as a kind of spiritual bounty hunter, rounding up Christians and throwing them in jail. Saul had been at the stoning of Stephen and he was now taking part in an organized persecution of the church. “Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3 ESV). And he was on his way to Damascus. “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem” (Acts 9:1 ESV).

So when Ananias, a resident of Damascus received word from God that Saul was in their town and that he was to go and heal him from his blindness, he was more than a bit surprised. News of Saul had spread. He had a less-than-angelic reputation and Ananias couldn’t figure out why God would command him to assist this man in any way. If he was blind, why not leave him that way? Surely, he deserved it. He was pure evil. He was arresting innocent believers and throwing them in jail. He was working for the enemy. Why should he be helped in any way?

Ananias’ simple prayer expressed his consternation and confusion. It all made no sense to him. But a big part of his problem was that he didn’t know the whole story. He was completely unaware of what had happened to Saul as he was on his way to Damascus. Ananias didn’t know that Saul had also had a divine encounter, but with Jesus Himself. As Saul made his way to Damascus with the intention of arresting believers, the resurrected Jesus appeared to Him. Left physically blind as a result of his meeting with the Savior, Saul had made his way to Damascus as he had been instructed, and had spent three days neither eating or drinking, waiting for further instructions. Ananias knew nothing about any of this. All God had told him was to go to the street called Straight and to heal Saul of blindness. Which led to Ananias’ prayer.

So much of the time our prayers are based on scant information. We pray out of ignorance. And that’s not necessarily wrong. But we must learn to accept the reality that we don’t always have all the facts. Like Ananias, we can end up praying based on little or no information. We jump to conclusions. We conjure up scenarios and consequences. But we don’t know what God is doing behind the scenes. Ananias had heard rumors about Saul. He knew him to be an evil man who had done very bad things. So it wasn’t hard for Ananias to conclude that any dealings with Saul would be dangerous and to be avoided at all costs. But what Ananias didn’t know was what God had in store for Saul. He didn’t take into account God’s sovereign will. Yes, Saul was powerful and had been backed by the high priest, but God was more powerful. He could handle Saul. In fact, when God heard the prayer of Ananias, He simply responded, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16 ESV). He told Ananias to stop praying and to be obedient. Just go! Trust me!

When we pray, we must always take into account what we don’t know. We must also never forget what God does know: everything. So often, our prayers are little more than out attempt to tell God what we think He doesn’t know. We spend a great deal of time sharing news of which we think He is unaware. We spend a great deal of time trying to inform the all-knowing God. But we might be better off asking God to reveal to us what we don’t know. It might serve us better to ask God to open our eyes and help us to see His hand at work in our circumstances. Ananias attempted to bring God up to speed about Saul. But what he didn’t realize was that God was well aware of who Saul was and all that he had done. But God also knew what He was going to do with Saul – something neither Saul or Ananias were aware of. They didn’t know the rest of the story. But God did. Our prayers must always take into account the fulness of God’s plan. He is never at a loss as to what to do. He is never ignorant of the facts. Men like Saul don’t scare or surprise Him. The situations we face don’t catch Him off guard. Prayer is less an opportunity for us to tell God all that we know than it is a chance to learn from God all that He is doing. We should seek to know the rest of the story.

Sovereign God – Part II

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Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed” — for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. – Acts 4:24-30 ESV

Peter and John had been arrested by the high priest, Annas, given a stern warning to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and then released. And upon returning to their fellow disciples, they offered a corporate prayer to the sovereign Lord. They recognized His divine oversight of any and all circumstances. They acknowledged His sovereign plan that had included the arrest, trials and, ultimately, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Even Herod and Pliate had been little more than pawns in the hand of God as He accomplished His will regarding the death of His own Son. So when Peter and John had been threatened by the high priest, they knew that even that was all part of God’s plan. Jesus had predicted it. Interestingly enough, they did not ask God to remove the threats or lighten their load. They asked God “to grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness”. They didn’t ask for a change of circumstances, but for a change of attitude. They asked for boldness in place of fear, peace in place of anxiety, faith in place of doubt. They wanted God to work through their circumstances, not in spite of them. They knew that God was going to continue to do miracles, stretching out His hand to heal, and performing signs and wonders – all through the name of Jesus. Peter and John had healed a lame man, which is what had gotten them in trouble with the high priest to begin with. They knew that they had power at their disposal that would allow them to accomplish the impossible.

When interrogated by the high priest regarding and demanded to explain by whose power they had healed the man who had been lame since birth, Peter had boldly exclaimed, “you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all” (Acts 2:14-16 ESV). They had killed the Author of Life, and yet God had raised Him back to life. And as proof, Jesus had made possible the healing and perfect health of a man who had not taken a single step in his entire life. This was all the sovereign work of God. They had denied Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. They had attempted to destroy Him. But God had bigger plans. He had planned all along that His Son would die. His death at the hands of sinful men would be the key to mankind’s redemption. His sacrifice would pay for man’s sins and satisfy the righteous demands of a holy God. The penalty for sin was death. The payment required a sinless sacrifice. Only Jesus, the Son of God, met the requirements. Only Jesus could die a death that could propitiate or satisfy God’s demands and make possible forgiveness rather than condemnation.

It was this message that Peter, John and the disciples were commissioned to share. They had good news to share with all those who found themselves living in darkness and without hope. And all they asked for from God was the boldness to declare that message in the midst of threats, repeated rejection, increasing animosity and ongoing trials. They knew they were going to need strength. The threats of the high priest were real. The possibility of harm and even death was far from remote. But they knew they had a job to do. They had the answer to the world’s problems and the God-given obligation to share it. They had already seen God do great things. They had watched Him perform miracles. They had seen the resurrected Lord. They had experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit. Life for them could no longer be business as usual. The Savior had come. The Kingdom of God had drawn near. The battle for the souls of men had commenced and they viewed themselves as soldiers in the army of the Most High God. What a timely reminder for those of us living in this age. We live surrounded by darkness. The people with whom we associate each and every day are searching for hope and longing for healing, and we carry the Light of the world within us. What we so desperately need is boldness. What we should be praying for is strength to carry out our God-given task to act as salt and light, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with any and all we meet. We will be hated. We will face rejection. Those things should not surprise us, but neither should they deter us. May our daily prayer be, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”

Sovereign God.

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Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed” — for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. – Acts 4:24-30 ESV

Ever since the miracle of Pentecost, the disciples of Jesus had been boldly sharing the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the city of Jerusalem – much to the consternation of the Scribes and Pharisees. On one particular day, as Peter and John were speaking to the people, “the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:1-2 ESV). They had Peter and John arrested and held in custody until the next day. But amazingly, in spite of this episode, more than 5,000 people came to faith in Christ as the result of the preaching of these two men.

The next morning, Peter and John were brought before Annas the high priest and a gathering of Jewish religious leaders, where they were questioned. “By what power or by what name did you do this?” (Acts 4:7 ESV). It seems that the real issue was the miraculous healing that had taken place the day before at the Beautiful Gate. A lame man, begging for alms, had gotten the attention of Peter and John. But rather than giving him money, Peter healed him, in the name of Jesus. This astounded the people and “they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him” (Acts 3:10 ESV). So Annas the high priest wanted to know how they had done it. What as their secret? Peter’s Spirit-filled response was, “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well” (Acts 4:10 ESV). Peter went on to clarify that he was talking about the very same Jesus the Jewish leaders had helped crucify just days earlier. While they had rejected Him as their Messiah, Peter made it clear that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 ESV). The religious leaders were at a loss as to what to say or do, so they simply warned Peter and John to speak no more in the name of Jesus. Of course, the disciples refused and were released. Which brings us to this prayer. It was prayed by the gathered disciples when Peter and John returned to them and shared the story of what had happened.

It is important to note that this prayer was prayed as a result of what Peter and John shared that “the chief priests and the elders had said to them” (Acts 4:23 ESV). In other words, when the disciples heard that the priestly authority had threatened them to speak no more in the name of Jesus, they took the matter to God. They had been threatened for doing exactly what Jesus had commanded them to do, so they knew nothing better than to share their circumstances with God. They address God as Sovereign Lord. The Greek word is despotēs and it refers to “an absolute ruler”. In their minds, God was the final authority in their lives, not the high priest, the Sadducees, Scribes or Pharisees. God was the creator of the universe. Everyone and everything was subject to His divine authority. Even David, under the inspiration of the Spirit, had prophesied concerning Jesus, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (Psalm 2:1 ESV). The Jews and the Romans had attempted to eliminate the impact of Jesus by taking His life. But their actions had all been part of God’s sovereign plan. Their strategy to kill Jesus and thus destroy His influence over the people had backfired, because it was actually exactly what God had wanted to happen. It had been His will all along. As in the story of Joseph, it was as if Jesus was saying to the religious leaders, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20 ESV). God’s plan had included His Son’s death. It had been predetermined and the ultimate expression of God’s love for man. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

Post-resurrection, having seen the risen Savior and having experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit, the disciples could see with perfect clarity the sovereign plan of God. Even their current circumstances were part of His plan. Jesus had warned them: “you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:18 ESV). It was all part of the plan. The threats of high priests and powerful people were nothing compared to the plans of the Absolute Ruler. On the day when Peter had confessed to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16 ESV), Jesus had said, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18 ESV). The church would be built on that confession of Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God, and nothing would be able overcome it. The disciples were living out the reality of that promise. But they were going to have to remind themselves of it each and every day of their lives.

Courage to Pray.

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For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, “I will build you a house.” Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever. – 2 Samuel 7:27-29 ESV

2 Samuel 7:18-29

God had promised to build David a house. Not a building made of wood and stone, but a lasting heritage. His promise concerned the future of the Davidic kingdom. One of David’s descendants would sit on his throne in Jerusalem and to his kingdom there would be no end. Of course, we know now that this promise to David had far greater ramifications than David could have realized at the time. Hundreds of years later, the angel, Gabriel, would announce to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33 ESV). So while the short-term fulfillment of God’s promise to David would involve the reign of his son Solomon, God had far greater things in mind. There is a day coming when Jesus, the Son of God and a descendant of David, will sit on His throne in Jerusalem and reign over the world in righteousness and truth. Part of the vision given to John that he recorded in the book of the Revelation tells us, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15 ESV).

Everything that God had promised to David came to pass. We can look back and see that God fulfilled every aspect of His promise to David. And the amazing thing is that God did so in spite of David, in spite of Solomon, and in spite of the people of Israel. God’s promise would remain intact even while the kingdom of Israel went through a split and its people suffered two deportations and captivities at the hands of their enemies. God’s promise would survive hundreds of years of an empty throne and the subjugation of the people of Israel to outside forces. He would eventually send His Son as the fulfillment of His covenant promise to David. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He boldly proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15 ESV). In a real sense, His kingdom had come. He was the Messiah, the long-awaited descendant of David who came to rule and reign over the people of Israel. But Jesus did not set up His earthly kingdom at that time. Of course, that was what the disciples were anticipating. That was what they were hoping he would do, which is what led them to argue over who was going to get to sit on His right and His left when He established His kingship. But as Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36 ESV). At His first advent, Jesus did not come to establish an earthly kingdom. Yes, He came as King of kings and Lord of lords, but His was a heavenly kingdom. He came to rule and reign over the hearts of men. He came to defeat sin and death, not the Romans. He came to set people free from slavery and subjugation to sin, not from the tyranny of Roman rule. But the day is coming when He will fulfill God’s promise completely. At His second advent or Second Coming, He will come once again to earth, but at that time He will come to reign. He will come in might and power, and prepared to finish what He began. The book of Revelation describes that scene. “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:11-16 ESV).

Like David, we wait for the final fulfillment of God’s promise. And like David, God’s promise should give us courage to pray. We should be able to come to Him in boldness, based on His promise to us, and ask that His will be done. Especially at times like we are experiencing as a nation, we should pray that God bring about the final fulfillment of His plan. We should long for and pray for the coming of Christ to take away His Church. We should regularly ask God to bring about the Second Coming of His Son. We should desire what God has promised and planned. He has said it. He will do it. We should pray for it – courageously and expectantly.

You Have Spoken.

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And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,” and the house of your servant David will be established before you. – 2 Samuel 7:25-26 ESV

2 Samuel 7:18-29

David trusted God. He took Him at His word. He believed that whatever God had promised, He would fulfill. This was a characteristic of God that he had been taught since he was a child. He would have been familiar with Numbers 23:19 where it states, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” And there is a strong possibility that David was familiar with the words his mentor, Samuel, had uttered to King Saul on the day that God told him that he was taking the kingdom away from him and giving it to another. “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret” (1 Samuel 15:29 ESV). God had made a promise to David. He had sworn to place a descendant of David on the throne and to establish his throne forever. And David was willing to believe what God had told him. Over in the book of Hebrews, we are told that God keeps His covenants. “God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:17-18 NLT). God had given his promise to Abraham that through one of his descendants, the nations of the earth would be blessed. And Abraham believed God. He trusted Him. He also took God at His Word. And it was that faith in God and His promise that was accounted to Abraham as righteousness. Over in Hebrews chapter 11, there is a list of great men and women of faith from the Old Testament who placed their faith in God. And it tells us “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it” (Hebrews 11:13 NLT). Abraham never saw all the descendants God had promised. He never once owned an acre of property within the boundaries of Canaan, the land God had promised. It was by faith that Joseph believed the people of Israel would one day leave the land of Egypt, even though he never lived to see that day. Over 400 years later, it was by faith that Moses led the people out of the land of Egypt, not fearing the Pharaoh, but also not knowing exactly where he was leading them. It was by faith the people of Israel marched seven times around the walls of Jericho, not knowing exactly how God’s somewhat unconventional battle plan was going to work out. God had spoken and they trusted Him.

It’s amazing what happens when we trust God, when we take Him at His word. The problem is that obedience to God’s word and acceptance of His promises always requires faith. We don’t always know how things are going to work out. When God told Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, Abraham had no way of knowing how that was going to happen. After all, he was old and his wife was barren. When God told David that he would have a descendant who would reign in Jerusalem forever, he had no idea what that meant or how it was going to take place. But he determined to take God at His word. His only response was to ask God to confirm His word. He just asked God to bring it all about – in whatever way He might see fit. No stipulations or requirements. No helpful advice or conditions. He knew that whatever God had in mind would be far better than anything he could dream up. And his ultimate desire was that God would receive glory. “And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel.’” Is God’s glory our greatest desire? Is our faithful acceptance of His word and patient waiting for its fulfillment more important to us than getting our own way? God has promised us peace, joy, contentment, His presence and provision, and not to mention eternal life. But for some of us, that doesn’t seem to be good enough. We get frustrated because we don’t seem to be enjoying the peace we were expecting. We aren’t experiencing joy, at least not according to our definition. We lack contentment. We fail to sense God’s presence, and we tend to provide for ourselves, refusing to wait on Him. And if the truth be told, for a lot of us, eternal life is not worth waiting for. So we try to treat this world as if it is all there is. We seek everything here and now, refusing to wait on God’s promise of the hereafter. But as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). God has spoken. But are we listening? God has promised, But do we believe Him? He doesn’t lie. He never fails to keep His word. He always knows what is best. So when will we learn to trust Him?

Chosen by God.

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And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. – 2 Samuel 7:23-24 ESV

2 Samuel 7:18-29

David knew that he was the recipient of God’s grace. He had been hand-picked by God to be the king of Israel. Not because he somehow deserved it or had earned the position, but because God chose him from among all his brothers. The only thing we know about David is what God had Samuel, the prophet, tell King Saul. “But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you” (1 Samuel 13:14 ESV). The apostle Paul adds to what we know about David. “And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will’” (Acts 13:22 ESV). David had a willing and obedient heart, but that is not why God chose him. Like all men, David had a sin nature, which his life’s story chronicles all too well. So God did not choose him because he was perfectly obedient and sinless. God did not choose him because he was great or because of his great accomplishments. The truth is, when Samuel went to Jesse’s house to look for a replacement for King Saul, Jesse paraded all of his sons before the prophet, but had left David out tending sheep in the fields. He was an afterthought even for his own father. But not for God. And as significant as the idea of having been chosen by God might have been to David, he was even more keenly aware that God had chosen the people of Israel. David saw himself as just a small part of a much bigger picture.

David did not take it lightly that Israel was “the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people”. He had done great and awesome things for them, including having set them free from captivity in Egypt and having helped them conquer the land of Canaan so they could possess it as their own. Out of all the nations on the earth, God had chosen Israel. Centuries earlier, He had hand-picked Abram, an obscure individual who lived in the distant land of Ur. We are not told in Scripture why God chose Abram. It doesn’t even indicate that he was a follower of God when he was chosen. It simply tells us that God called him and committed to bless him. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’” (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV). From this one man and his barren wife, Sarah, God would create the nation of Israel. God would fulfill His promise to Abram and create a mighty nation. Then years later, when that nation found itself living in captivity in the land of Egypt, God would rescue and redeem them, setting them free and establishing them as His prized people. He would give them His law and eventually their own land, committing to live among them and be their God. Not because they deserved it. In fact, God told them, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8 ESV).

God had chosen Abram. He had chosen the people of Israel. He had chosen David. Their single claim to fame was the fact that God had set them apart as His own. Their choosing was God’s doing. It had been undeserved and unmerited. And David fully comprehended that fact. His only claim to fame was that God had chosen him. His significance lie in the reality that He had been set apart by God for God. God had chosen to be his God. And the apostle Paul reminds us that our relationship with God is based on the same reality. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV). And he goes on to say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV). He describes us as God’s workmanship. Our beauty and value come from God having chosen us. Our worth is derived from our position as His possession. We belong to Him and that is what gives us worth. Our value as His possession should motivate us to live accordingly. Paul put it this way: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1 ESV).

None Like You.

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Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. – 2 Samuel 7:21-22 ESV

2 Samuel 7:18-29

God had transformed David from an obscure shepherd boy into a mighty king over the nation of Israel – God’s chosen people. Not only that, God had promised to give David an everlasting dynasty, with one of his descendants occupying the throne in Jerusalem. David could look back over his life and see the hand of God, and now he could contemplate the future with confidence, knowing that God had it all under control. Yes, David was going to have to die to his dream of building a temple for God, but his disappointment was replaced with joy as soon as he understood that God had an even great plan in store. The interesting thing to note is the David, the king of Israel, willingly submitted himself to God, the King of the universe. In fact, David repeatedly refers to himself as God’s servant throughout this prayer. Yes, he was king and held the most powerful position in the land. But he humbly submitted himself to God because he recognized that any power, authority, success or significance he enjoyed was due to the sovereign hand of God. He confessed to God, “you have brought about all this greatness”. David could look back over his life and see God intimately involved every step along the way. From his unlikely selection by Samuel to be the next king of Israel to his defeat of the Philistine warrior, Goliath, David saw God’s divine fingerprints. He knew that it had been God who had protected him all those years he lived in exile in the wilderness with a bounty on his head issued by King Saul. He knew that it had been God who had arranged his ascent to the throne. God had given him his victories over the enemies of Israel. God had been the one to forgive his sin with Bathsheba and allowed him to continue his reign. Everywhere David looked, he could see the hand of God.

They say hindsight is 20/20. It sometimes takes the passing of time and the opportunity to contemplate where we have been to give us a true perspective on just what has happened. Looking back allows us to view the events of our life more realistically. We are able to see the lessons learned even in the darkest moments. From our present vantage point, we are more apt to understand now what was going on then. In fact, our reflection on the past often leads us to say, “If I had only known then what I know now”. But as believers in Christ, there is far more benefit to reflection on the past than potential life lessons to be learned. Like David, we should be able to look and see God’s fingerprints all over every aspect of our lives. We should be able to see how He was leading us and eventually calling us to Himself. We should recognize the moments in which He had protected us or possibly disciplined us. Looking back allows us to better see our own sin and God’s gracious acts of salvation all along the way. And the result of our reflection should be the same as that of David. “Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you.”

But not only does looking back allow us to see the handiwork of God in our lives, so does looking forward. David could “see” into the future and rest easy, knowing that God had promised that He would “raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Samuel 7:12 ESV). God had told David that He would “establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:13 ESV). And one of the reasons David could trust God’s word regarding the future was because he had experienced God’s faithfulness in the past. He had learned to trust God. He had no reason to doubt that God would fulfill His promises for the future because God had already proven Himself trustworthy and good for His word.

The greatness of God. Sometimes I think that reality escapes many of us who call ourselves Christians. We have somehow lost our awe for God. Rather than see Him as great, we simply take Him for granted. We fail to look back and see His hand in our lives. Any success we have achieved, we tend to take credit for. Any difficulties we have endured, we fail to see any value in. Some of us simply regret the past. Others of us inordinately revel in it. And either way, we can fail to see God in it. Recognizing God’s involvement in our past is essential if we are going to trust His promises for the future. If we don’t believe He has been there for us all along the way, we are going to have a hard time believing He will be there for us in the days ahead. One of the greatest lessons we can learn in this life is to recognize and appreciate the greatness of God. He is always great, whether we see it or are willing to acknowledge it. Sometimes, the best way to comprehend His greatness is to come to grips with our own weakness and insignificance. For David, the very thought that God had chosen him, an insignificant shepherd boy, and made him a king, was mind blowing. That God had chosen to protect him all those years he was running from a psycho king with a one-track mind focused on David’s annihilation, was almost too much for him to believe. But he did believe and he was grateful. He was awed at God’s greatness. And so should we be. Like David, we should be able and willing to exclaim, “Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness” (Psalm 145:3 NLT).

Who Am I?

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Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God!” – 2 Samuel 7:18-20 ESV

2 Samuel 7:18-29

David desired to build a temple for God. He had enjoyed great success and his kingdom had grown strong and prosperous. As a show of gratitude, he wanted to construct a suitable house for his God. But Nathan the prophet, under instructions from God Himself, informed David that he would not be building a temple. First, God made it clear that He had never asked for anyone to build Him a permanent dwelling place. “In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’” (2 Samuel 7:7 ESV). Not only that, God told David that He would build his house. But instead of talking about a dwelling place, God was speaking of David’s dynasty or lineage. God told David, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” (2 Samuel 7:12-14 ESV). God was speaking of David’s son, Solomon. It would be he who would build the temple David envisioned. But it would be God who made it all possible, providing Solomon with a prosperous and peace-filled reign. And as a final word of promise to David, God said, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16 ESV).

While David’s initial reaction to this news was probably disappointment, because he was not going to get to fulfill his dream of building a temple for God, his prayer reflects his amazement and gratitude at the grace of God. His immediate response was one of awe, leading him to ask, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” God had reminded David of how he had gotten to where he was. “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth” (2 Samuel 7:8-9 ESV). David’s rise to prominence had been totally God’s doing. He had taken an obscure shepherd boy and transformed him into a mighty warrior-king. And this reminder led David to wonder out loud why God would have ever chosen him as the recipient of such an amazing blessing. God had done great things for David and that fact had not escaped the king. And now God was promising David a dynasty – an ongoing, unbroken succession of kings who would be his own descendants. This was a first for Israel. Saul had been their first king, but David had succeeded him. Now David was being told, “your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16 ESV). This was an incredible piece of news for David. He was being promised by God that his throne or kingdom would have no end. David knew that for that to happen, it would have to be the work of God. No dynasty lasted forever. No earthly kingdom went on without interruption or end. So God was promising something extraordinary and seemingly impossible, and David reacted accordingly.

But little did David know what this covenant really meant. God had something far greater in store than even David could imagine. We know that Solomon’s reign would not end well. In fact, his disobedience to God would end up splitting the kingdom in half. The coming years would see a succession of kings, most of whom would not serve the Lord faithfully. Eventually, the northern kingdom of Israel would be defeated and taken captive by the Assyrians. Not long afterwards, the southern kingdom of Judah would fall to the Babylonians. And then there would be a long period of time where no king reigned over Israel. It would appear as if God’s promise to David had failed. But God was not done. It was all part of His divine plan of redemption. Because eventually, He would send His own Son, born to Mary, a descendant of David, making Jesus a legitimate heir to the throne of David. God made this clear to Mary when He gave her news of her unexpected and miraculous pregnancy. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33 ESV).

God had chosen an unknown shepherd boy and made him a king. He chose an obscure peasant girl and making her the mother of the Messiah. God is always the instigator. As Paul reminds us, “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10 ESV). No one deserves God’s blessing. No one merits God’s salvation. All of us who have experienced the joy of forgiveness of sins and restoration with God through faith in Jesus Christ could say along with David, “Who am I?” We must never forget our own undeservedness and the reality that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV). Our salvation is the work of God and of His Son Jesus Christ. It is not our doing. Which is why we should never cease to be amazed that God chose to extend His love, grace and mercy to us.