30 More Days... Day 13

2Sam. 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far?
2Sam. 7:19 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD
2Sam. 7:27 For You, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant, saying, “I will build you a house.’ Therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to You.
2Sam. 7:28  “And now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are true, and You have promised this goodness to Your servant.
2Sam. 7:29 Now therefore, let it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You, O Lord GOD, have spoken it, and with Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”

If something sounds to good to be true ... then it probably is. This is a maxim that we typically learn at a young age. However, despite this, we are still drawn in by it. I remember the letters coming in the mail... “you may already be a winner!!!” I remember the commercials ... “it cuts through a cement block wall and can still slice a tomato like this...!” I remember trading baseball cards with my friends ... Somehow it always sounded like a better deal before we actually traded. But, for some reason hope keeps bringing us back for more. We want to believe it but we also know “if it sounds to good...”. We know from experience that “you get what you pay for...”.

In the preceding passages David has expressed to Nathan the prophet his desire to build a “house”, a temple, to God in place of the Tabernacle. David loves God. He has followed and trusted God all his life and God has preserved him and blessed him. David, in thinking of all that God has done for him, realizes that while he lives in a palace, the worship of God is still going on in a tent. That David should, even in symbol, live “better” than God was a shame to him.

At first, Nathan thinks this is a great idea and tells David to do all that he is thinking. However, this is human thinking and God comes and tells him to tell David, this is what the Lord has to say about it. David has wanted to bless the Name of God, but instead he ends up being the one who is blessed by God. That is always the way it is and will be.

God promises David that He will establish David and his house to rule Israel forever. God reveals to David things that the average person never knows about the future and those that come after them. David is in awe that God would reveal such things and make such promises. He comes before God and prays.

I get a picture in my mind of David kind of sitting or kneeling in a kind of disbelief ... stupefied if you will. He is happy, euphoric, and yet for a moment struggles to get a “handle on the situation”. What should he even say and how should he begin. Then, as his mind and thoughts settle, he begins his prayer.

God who am I? What is it about me and my family that is so special? Why should You would take notice? It was all too good to be true, and yet it was. David the shepherd, taken from watching the sheep to be King Saul’s personal musician. This was as high an honor as most people could wish for in life, but David is still very young. Many never achieve so much in all their lifetime. Then as an young man he defeats a veteran warrior giant. He rises to national hero, trusted soldier and leader. He becomes a hunted outlaw. God preserves him through all of this, distinguishes him and makes him king over, not just Judah but, all of Israel. David has come through countless battles and God has given him rest. All of this has been overwhelming, amazing! If that weren’t enough, now God has made an incredible promise to David.

Even as he considers this he still doesn’t know what to say. Even more, he knows that God knows him so well that He knows what is on David’s tongue before he says anything. Not only that, but God also knows all of David’s weaknesses and shortcomings, his imperfections and problems, yet despite this God still promises.

David can only conclude that God’s reasons for doing this are His own. It can’t be because of David, any accomplishment or obedience of his own. It must be for God’s purposes. That is just fine with David. Some of us might look at such a promise with suspicion. “God only blesses when He gets something out of it.” “He has ulterior motives.” Of course, such thinking is flawed and misses that which is most important. But this is not David’s way of thinking. David is excited that he gets to be a part of it. He is excited that God has chosen him. It is a privilege and not a right. That he should receive anything from God’s hand is amazing. That God would make him any promise is incredible. That he is able to enjoy the blessing and that his family after him will also be under God’s blessing and correction. He can think of no better thing. If he wanted something from God for his own sake it would be less, but because it is for God’s sake and the sake of His name, David knows that it will be best for him as well. He rests not in his own judgement about what it means to be blessed but in God’s. He entrusts himself to God’s hands.

David again looks at the position that he has. He is king over the people that God has chosen for Himself. That makes him unique among a unique people and that is going to be preserved.

As he comes toward the end of his prayer he again is a little stupefied. He is overcome with the “too good to be true” aspect of all this. God has promised me!?! David will not strive to achieve what has been promised. God, since You have chosen to do this then please do it and may You get all the glory and praise in it. It is too good to be true, but if You said it ... it will happen.

David reminds himself again that God is not a trader in the marketplace or a snake oil salesman. What He says is true and He will keep His word.

After this prayer David goes back out and wars against various enemies. At the beginning of this chapter it says that God had given him rest from his enemies. However, the first thing that we see in chapter 8 is that David goes out on a number of military campaigns. He extends his territory and the wealth of his kingdom. I am almost sure he goes out in the strength and confidence of this promise God has made to him that he might leave a legacy to his children as a testimony to God’s promise and to glorify God. He does it in the power of God’s strength so that he can be a blessing to His children and leave an offering to God.

All of us who know God can point to promises that He has made to us. He has revealed many things in His word and by His Spirit. Even if those were the only promises that we ever knew they would be great and awesome. However, sometimes we fail to be amazed. Sometimes we fail to remember all His promises to us. They seem almost to good to be true and we fail to “go out” in the strength of those promises. We can fail to appreciate God for the goodness of the promises he has made. We can get stuck in the mundane of life or the refusal of requests we have made of God. We can fail to praise God for all His goodness. We can fail to ask Him to remember His promises to us and rest assured of those promises being fulfilled. We can fail to be stupefied before the Lord. We get stuck in a “too good to be true” attitude when, in fact, God is too good is true.

Prayer Request
*For about a year we have been praying about starting a Bible Study for Families with young children and Young families. God has opened various opportunities toward this, yet the interest of people to attend - the starting point has been lacking. Pray that we would have wisdom toward starting such a group and that God would bring the people together so that we can start meeting and studying God’s word. Pray that God would build a good group open to studying God’s word and interested in spiritual things and then continue to grow the group as He sees fit.