Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Monday,
When the busyness of your life calms down enough for you to have some extended time of reflection about your life, what do you think about? And normally how do those times of deeper reflection affect your life priorities and action plans?
We’re walking through the life story of one of the most interesting men in all history, especially the history of the nation of Israel, as recorded in the Bible. That man is King David. Yesterday I left you with a joy filled King David as he watched the worship taking place around the tent he had pitched, in ‘the City of David’, for the Ark of God’s Covenant with His people Israel. We found that story in 2 Samuel 6 & 1 Chronicles 13-16. It appears during a time of deep, personal reflection David did as my opening question to you suggested. David reflected on his life, his life journey, his current situation in ‘the City of David’ and in that reflection something very significant happened. Let’s take a closer look. . .
The record of 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17 are almost exact, word for word, identical descriptions of David’s experience. It says: “After King David was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, David said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the Ark of God remains in a tent’. Nathan replied to the king, ‘Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.” (2 Samuel 7:1-3) What do you hear in David’s reflections as he compares the beautiful palace, he had built for himself with the tent he had erected for the Ark of God, which represented the very Presence of God with His people?
Do you remember an old song that says, ‘turn your eyes upon Jesus and things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace”? David was giving serious thought to his personal priorities and the decisions and actions he had taken, especially since becoming king over Israel. It appears to me David was unsettled, feeling somewhat guilty that he had followed the normal path of other high-profile leaders by building himself a palace, while the Ark of God’s Presence was under a tent David had pitched for it. And even though David had given instructions for worship and praise of God to take place daily there at that tent, still a tent, flapping in the wind, as compared to a palace with rooms lined with cedar, caused David to feel things were not right. God deserved so much more than a tent.
Now, can you and I apply this to the priorities in our lives? When you consider the 168 hours of TIME you and I have each week, how does our use of that time reflect the balance between the significance of God in our lives as compared to the priority we place on entertainment or employment or enjoyment or even the essentials required for sustaining our lives? Or what about the use of our TREASURE? When you and I consider our financial budgets each month and we apply the same questions, what do we see in our expenditures and what does that tell us about our priorities?
David was wrestling with his priorities at a very deep level, wasn’t he? David reached out to his spiritual advisor, the prophet Nathan, for help in trying to assess it all. I find it interesting that Nathan’s wisdom was ‘go with whatever you think seems right, David.’ Maybe Nathan said much more than that to David, but I feel sorry for David that his spiritual advisor was not wiser, more deeply spiritual than that. But the very next line in the record tells me God intervened, and quickly: “But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan saying…” Oh that encourages me very much! My friends, no matter who you are and no matter you and I have as our advisors, and no matter the advice, good or bad which we receive, God is listening and ready to respond to our needs, our cries for help, our seeking reliable, trustworthy advice. That is the role of the Holy Spirit, and you may recall when Samuel anointed David as a young boy to be the future king of Israel, God’s Holy Spirit came upon David.
In the following verses we find the record of what God said to Nathan that God wanted Nathan first to understand about David’s questions and secondly that God wanted Nathan to communicate to King David as spiritual wisdom and God’s guidance for David. May I urge you to listen to the Dramatized Audio Bible rendition of 2 Samuel 7 which you’ll find at the conclusion of today’s “Walking with Jesus”? I think it will help this very special event come alive for you. You’ll notice God did not rebuke nor praise David for his inquiry, but rather God helps David put things into perspective… God’s perspective. God wanted David to understand that God had not needed a permanent structure built by human hands, for God prioritized BEING with His people and God was moving them as He directed them in relocating from place to place, thus the appropriateness of a mobile “Tent of Meeting” in which the Ark was kept in the “Most Holy Place”.
I wonder if you recognize how this is what the apostle Paul said about Almighty God when Paul was in Athens, about 1000 years later, and saw all the man-made idol gods, temples and altars in Athens? Paul said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious… now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the LORD of heaven and earth and He does not live in temples built by human hands. And He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all humanity life and breath and everything else… God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being...” (Acts 17:22-28)
I believe that’s what God was communicating to David and God wants you and me to understand today, 3000 years after this 2 Samuel 7 experience. God and young David had developed a very special relationship as shepherd boy David was outside on the hillsides watching over sheep day and night. God had further nurtured that relationship with David as a young soldier in Saul’s army and even as Saul chased and tried to capture and kill David. Now God was nurturing that special relationship with David as he was now king over God’s people Israel. God wanted David to know the relationship David and God had, did not need a building, it needed a tender heart that was continually pursuing a loving, trusting relationship with God! It’s the same for you and me, isn’t it my friends?
Oh, there’s so much in this very interesting dialogue between God and David, that we’ll return here tomorrow for more, but first let me point out one more thing: God wanted David to understand that God is TIMELESS. God could see the far distant past, the present and the entire future, right now! God is also very personal, so God was able to see David’s ancestry, David’s current family, and David’s descendants even before they were born. So, God explained “When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to follow you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for My Name…” (2 Samuel 7:12,13)
Now let’s pause here in reflection my friends. Do you hunger for a deep, personal, powerful, significant relationship with God as much as God desires that relationship with you? How are you pursuing and developing that relationship? Are you interested in what God sees as he looks at your family tree, your ancestry, your descendants and how YOU fit into your line and what impact you have, especially on the spiritual heritage of your family line? Let’s ponder that with this worship song. There’s something about the young voices of young people reflecting on life, isn’t there? And I look forward to meeting you right here again tomorrow with King David.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Samuel 7:1-16.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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