2 Sam. 7: “David Desires To Build A House For The Lord, But The Lord Instead Builds A House For Him”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapter 6 of 2 Samuel and the story of how David came to bring the Ark of God into Jerusalem. We learned in that chapter the importance of doing God’s will God’s way.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapter 7 of 2 Samuel.

1.2.1. We will see in this study that David having been made king, having captured the city of Jerusalem for his capitol city, having had two great victories over the Philistines, having brought the Ark of God into Jerusalem, finally has peace and tranquility in his life. As David is enjoying his leisure in the house that Hiram, king of Tyre, built for him, he begins to desire to build a house for the Lord since the Lord dwelt in a tent and yet deserved so much more.

1.2.2. The Lord will not allow David to build a house for himself at this time, however the Lord makes the “Davidic Covenant” with David. Under this covenant, the Lord will build a house for David, establishing that the Messiah who shall rule over the earth for all eternity shall come through David’s lineage.

1.2.3. The Lord also tells David that his son ( “descendant”- Solomon ) will build a house for the Lord.

1.2.4. Knowing that he will not be the one to actually build the temple for the Lord to dwell in, David none-the-less begins to work fervently to collect all of the materials that will be necessary for the building of a temple for the Lord.

2. VS 7:1-3 - “¹ Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, ² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.” ³ Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.”” - Having a period of rest from warfare, David conferred with Nathan the prophet telling him that he wanted to build a house for the Lord

2.1. This was David’s first real period of rest in ages. David had vanquished all of his enemies and now had a period of respite. From the moment that David was anointed by the Lord to be king over Israel (while Saul was still early in his reign) until this point in time, David’s life had been one of constant activity and warfare. If he wasn’t fighting with the enemies of the Lord, David was fleeing for his life from King Saul.

2.2. Just prior to our story here we read about how that Hiram, king of Tyre, had built a beautiful kingly house for David and his family. It was as David was relaxing in his house and enjoying the luxury of it that he began to consider the fact that the Lord was dwelling in a meager tent that was subject to all of the elements of nature. He then began to feel guilty that he could be living in such luxury while the Lord dwelt in such a meager dwelling, a mere tent.

2.3. Someone once remarked that a test of a person’s spirituality is seen in what they do during their times of leisure. Here we see how that David spent his time of leisure:

2.3.1. Hanging out with Nathan the prophet, a godly man and counselor for him. Its wise to keep good company!

2.3.2. Fellowshipping with the Lord and considering all the ways God had blessed him as well as ways in which he could return to the Lord for the goodness that the Lord had done in his life.

2.3.3. I believe that David also searched the scripture during this time. Doing this I believe that he realized that the Lord had told the children of Israel that eventually they would be settled in the land of promise and that there they would need to make a new and more permanent arrangement for serving the Lord, as seen in Deuteronomy 12:10-11, “¹⁰ “When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, ¹¹ then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.”

2.3.4. David was thinking about others also. In 1 Chron. 16:37-43, we read that after the Ark of the Lord had been brought into Jerusalem by David with the huge celebration of all Israel that occurred that David setup the order for the priests serving in the tabernacle, and it could be that David yearned that these many priests should have a permanent house within which to minister before the Lord, “³⁷ So he left Asaph and his relatives there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required; ³⁸ and Obed-edom with his 68 relatives; Obed-edom, also the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah as gatekeepers. ³⁹ He left Zadok the priest and his relatives the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place which was at Gibeon, ⁴⁰ to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which He commanded Israel. ⁴¹ With them were Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to give thanks to the Lord, because His lovingkindness is everlasting. ⁴² And with them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and with instruments for the songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun for the gate. ⁴³ Then all the people departed each to his house, and David returned to bless his household.”

2.4. Nathan the prophet knew that the Lord’s hand was on David’s life and that in desiring to build a house for God what David was expressing was his deep love for the Lord, therefore he thought certainly that the Lord must have inspired these thoughts and desires of David’s for building a house for the Lord to dwell in.

2.4.1. I believe it was Augustine who when asked about how we can determine God’s will for our life responded, “Love the Lord with all of your heart and then do whatever you want to do!” We are usually safe in the decisions we make, you see, when we are simply loving the Lord with all of our heart, mind, and strenth.

3. VS 7:4-7 - “⁴ But in the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? ⁶ “For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. ⁷ “Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ”” - The Lord tells Nathan the prophet to return to David and tell him that he is not to build a house for the Lord after all

3.1. We see here that Nathan the prophet had been completely wrong when he had counseled David to go and do what was in his heart in building a house for the Lord.

3.2. David was a man who was after God’s own heart, we know from the scriptures, and he has even been made by the Lord to be king over God’s people. However, every person has their own callings and ministries, and it was not the Lord’s plan for David to build this house for the Lord. Thus, the Lord tells Nathan to tell David, ‘Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in?’

3.3. In our lives as Christians, sometimes we have our hearts set upon entering into some ministry or another and the Lord tells us, “No!” These are difficult times to deal with because we have sought the Lord out of our sincere heart’s desire to serve Him, and then we find out that He does not want to use us in the way that we desired or were open to having Him use us.

3.3.1. I can think of a few times in my wife’s and my life when this has happened to us:

3.3.1.1. Early in my Christian walk I was convinced that since I had been a club musician before coming to Christ that God’s plan for my life would involve fulltime ministry playing in Christian bands. So, I played in a half dozen bands or so over a period of 15 years and performed a lot of evangelistic ministry, however the Lord just kept closing the door to do more than just local outreaches with music. However, being a lead guitar player as I was I practiced my chops for 2 hours every single day for at least 10 years, plus took numerous worships and read many books on improvisation. However, after 15 years and a very flat forehead from running into brick walls I finally got the message that full-time music ministry was just not the Lord’s calling for me.

3.3.1.2. Then, in 1990 after doing a short-term missions trip to Japan, a trip I thoroughly loved, I became convinced that the Lord wanted to use Jill and I as missionaries to Japan or Asia. We then applied to OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) to be accepted as missionaries to Japan. We trusted in prayer that if the Lord wanted us to go to Japan that we would be accepted as missionaries. And why shouldn’t we be accepted for this, after all it was our heart’s desire to do it for the Lord? However, OMF rejected us because according to their standards I was a couple of years too old to be sent to a country whose language I didn’t already know, namely Japan, and their studies showed that we would have taken 12 years to sufficiently learn the language and this would not give us a long enough missionary life to be reasonably effective in the Japanese culture. So, we gave that dream up to the Lord and moved on.

3.3.1.3. Next, I became convinced that I was being called to be a pastor and plant a church in Montana, either Helena or Billings. So, we decided to pursue that dream. The only thing that held us back from going out was the fact that because of our being highly leveraged financially in the house we owned that we would have to sell the house before we could move. We could then use the equity in our house for our moving expenses.

Then, for the next 3 ½ years we prayed that the Lord would open this door by allowing us to sell our house, as we also prayed for the Lord to prepare the hearts of the people in the city in Montana we would move to.

We wanted to sell our house by owner so that we would get more cash out of it, and during the first 3 years I probably held a dozen open houses. But, no offers came in due to a depressed housing market. I even rebuilt the back deck and painted the house to make it more attractive, but nothing helped.

During the last two years of our journey ( of the 3 ½ years ) to sell our house we had a couple who had just come to Christ move up to Seattle and begin attending our church and home fellowship. They were so excited about knowing and serving the Lord. However, not long after moving up the wife came down with lung cancer. Well, our family and home fellowship (not to mention our church) were involved in supporting this family during her illness. We watched their kids, cleaned their house, landscaped their yard, washed their clothes, etc., etc.

The wife went into remission after a short time on chemotherapy and this couple truly served the Lord with an incredible focus and joy. However, after more two years the wife’s cancer came back. She was given two months to live. We in our home fellowship and church were again ministering to this family in every possible manner, just as before.

Now, during the last 6 months of this 3 ½ years both my wife and I had given up on trying to sell our house in order to fulfill our dream of going and planting a church in Montana. In fact, both of us privately and without the other’s knowledge, prayed and told the Lord that if we were supposed to go and plant a church that He was now going to have to sell our house because we were no longer going to try to do anything to make this happen. At this point, we knew that we needed to know in the first place that the Lord’s hand was in this dream of ours, thus we determined that He had to sell our house.

Well, it turned out that a couple of hours after I left the hospital the day that the wife passed away from her cancer, I received a call on the phone. A man told me that he had seen our house a couple of years earlier at an open house and had wanted to buy it but circumstances weren’t right and now if we were willing to sell the house he wanted to come by and make us an offer. We ended up getting the exact amount for the house we had been asking. The house closed in 20 days and in a month or so we were packed up and moving to Montana to plant the church.

I tell this story just to bring up the point that the Lord has a very good reason for telling us, “No!,” when we attempt to serve Him in various ways. We do not have a clue really what the future holds for us, otherwise we would know why the Lord is refusing us, and so in these times we need to place our trust in the Lord and that He knows what is best for us. The Lord had wanted us to minister to this family and then we were to go and plant the church.

3.3.2. What we do in those times when the Lord tells us, “No!,” is so critical for it determines whether or not we will now be able to continue to trust the Lord, and also how effective we will end up being for the Lord.

3.3.2.1. We will see here that knowing that he will not be the one who will build this house for the Lord, David none-the-less begins to tirelessly obtain all of the materials and supplies that will be needed to complete the house. David determines to assist the one who later would fulfill his vision, and he does a great and vital job in this.

3.4. Sometimes we find out years down the road why the Lord has led us in certain ways and perhaps said, “No!” regarding a prayer to serve Him. Later on in his life, we read in 1 Chron. 22:8 that the Lord told David the reason why he was rejected from building the house for the Lord, and it was because he had been a man of bloodshed (always fighting in battles), and the Lord desired His temple to be associated not with war and fighting but with peace and rest, “⁸ “But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to My name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before Me.”

3.5. What is important in our lives is that we are open to the Lord using us as He chooses to use us and that we do desire to see the Lord lifted up and glorified in all of the earth :

3.5.1. In 1 Kings 8:18, we read that many years later that the Lord told David that it was good that he had this desire in his heart to build a house for the Lord, “¹⁸ “But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.” This is wonderful that the Lord told David this, isn’t it?

3.5.2. I believe that the Lord honors the desire of our hearts to serve Him in any ministry, whether or not we actually end up being called by Him to fulfill that ministry. I think also that David will be rewarded when he gets to heaven for having built the temple for the Lord, just as if he had been the one to build it. Many believers will likewise receive rewards for ministries that they sought the Lord concerning and were told, “No!” by the Lord. This is a great consolation for all of us.

3.5.2.1. Just as with David here, many times in our lives as Christians it is the case that we sow for the Lord but that someone else reaps that fruit that we have labored for.

3.5.3. It is interesting to note that the lineage of Jesus Christ which came through Mary ( the one that really counts ) did not come through Solomon, but through David’s son Nathan as seen in Luke 3:31. The lineage of Joseph found in Matt. 1 includes Joseph as having come through Solomon.

3.5.3.1. Also, the scriptures seem to indicate that when Jesus sets up His Millennial kingdom, not only is He going to sit upon the throne of David, but a resurrected David is going to also reign as a regent to Jesus. It is not Solomon who built the temple who will reign as regent to Jesus, but David.

3.6. Well, not only did the Lord tell David that it was not His will for David to build a house for Him, and thus he was forbidden to do so, but also the Lord indicates that He had always dwelt in a tent among the children of Israel. In other words, it was no big deal to the Lord that He dwelt in a tabernacle instead of a temple. We can glean several things about this point :

3.6.1. The Lord is not impressed by grandiose displays of décor and worship for Him.

3.6.1.1. After all, knowing the omnipotence of the Lord and how magnificent are and will be all of His creations, we might assume that nothing we with our meager resources could create for the Lord would truly impress Him.

3.6.1.2. What impresses the Lord is a heart that loves and honors Him. The Lord desires that which is internal from His people, not the external stuff.

3.6.2. The Lord dwelt in the tabernacle out of His own sovereign choice and desire to humble Himself.

3.6.2.1. Interestingly, in John chapter 1 there is a long introduction to Christ that details His incarnation (God being made flesh), and in John 1:14 we read that when He ( as the eternal Word of God ) became incarnate that he “dwelt” among us however the word that is used for “dwelt” there actually means “tabernacled,” “¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

3.6.3. The Lord tells David that David building a house for God simply was not something that the Lord had commanded to be done.

3.6.3.1. The Lord is going to fulfill His plans upon the earth, we are not to seek to get the Lord to fulfill our plans but rather to align ourselves with the plans that He has in mind and has determined for the earth. We see this reflected in the prayer the Lord taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

4. VS 7:8-17 - “⁸ “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁹ “I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. ¹⁰ “I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, ¹¹ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. ¹² “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ” ¹⁷ In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.” - Through Nathan the Lord reminds David of the good that He had done for David, tells David of good that He will yet do for David, then tells David that He would make a house for David

4.1. The Lord tells David of how all of the good that had come to David had come about because of God’s grace, not because David had earned it, saying, ‘I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁹ “I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you.’

4.1.1. Note here that the Lord didn’t say that He took David from leading the sheep to leading or ruling over His people. He says He took David from ‘following the sheep’ to rule over His people. The Lord took David from being a follower to being a leader, you see.

4.2. The Lord tells David then of how He will exalt David’s name in all the earth, ‘and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth.’

4.3. Next, the Lord gives David great promises that He has for the future for Israel, saying, ‘I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, ¹¹ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies.’

4.3.1. We read in Paul’s writings in the New Testament that at this point in time that the Lord has set aside the nation of Israel because of their having rejected their Messiah. However, He will one day restore Israel as a nation to Himself as they will come to recognize that Christ is indeed their Messiah, and all Israel will be saved ( Rom. 11:26 ). This restoration of Israel will occur during the 7 year Tribulation of the book of Revelation, and it is one of the primary things that the Lord will be accomplishing during the Tribulation. Then, when Christ returns to the earth to setup his Millennial Kingdom, He will set it up with Jerusalem as His capitol along with the church and a restored Jewish nation.

4.4. The Davidic Covenant is now given to David by the Lord. This is an incredibly important event, and in fact J. Vernon McGee has written that he believes that this chapter is the most important chapter written thus far in the Old Testament. This covenant forms the basis upon which all of the prophets spoke and wrote prophetically about the Messiah to come. Also, in the New Testament we find that there are at least 59 references to David, such as :

4.4.1. Luke 1:30-32, “³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.”

4.4.2. Acts 2:29-30, 2:25-31, 34-36, “²⁵ “For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. ²⁶ ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; ²⁷ Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. ²⁸ ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ ²⁹ “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay…³⁴ “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, ³⁵ Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ ³⁶ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.””

4.4.3. Rom. 1:1-3, “¹ Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh.”

4.4.4. Rev. 22:16, “¹⁶ “ I, Jesus , have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches . I am the root and the descendant of David , the bright morning star.””

4.5. The Davidic covenant is also based upon the God’s covenant with Abraham which had three facets :

4.5.1. Abraham, through his descendants, was promised a land, a nation, and a blessing :

4.5.1.1. Gen. 12:1-3, “¹ Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; ² And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; ³ And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.””

4.5.1.2. The “land” of course became the land of Canaan, Israel became the Lord’s “nation,” and the “blessings” were those received under the first covenant for the Old Testament ( a blessing for obedience to the law of Moses- they were promised a blessing or a curse as a result of that covenant ) as well as those received under the second covenant (This was prophesied about by Jeremiah in Jer. 31:31-34, ““³¹ “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. ³³ “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.””” ).

4.6. Finally, the Lord tells David of the covenant that He would make with David to build a house for David ( the Davidic Covenant ) :

4.6.1. The Lord first foretells of the coming Messiah who would be a descendant of David’s, saying, ‘I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.’

4.6.2. The Lord then speaks a prophetic word about the next in David’s lineage, the one who would build the house for the Lord ( namely Solomon ), saying, ‘He shall build a house for My name.’

4.6.3. The Lord then again begins to speak of the coming Messiah, and now He reveals to David that this descendant of His who is to come would be the ‘son of God’, saying, ‘I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me.’

4.6.3.1. In several gospel accounts, such as John 5:17-18, we read that the Jews were offended that Jesus called God His father, since no one in the Old Testament times referred to God in this manner, yet it was revealed to David in these verses before us that the Messiah would be called the son of God, “¹⁷ But He answered them, “My Father is working until now , and I Myself am working .” ¹⁸ For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God..”

4.6.4. The Lord then tells David something about the Messiah to come as his descendant that has created some confusion, He says, ‘when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men.’

4.6.4.1. Some have attempted to explain that what is meant is not that the Messiah himself would sin and thus be corrected, but rather that when the Messiah would take the sins of the world upon himself and thus have iniquity upon himself, then he would encounter the stripes of men. One translation I have read for this verse actually indicates that this was meant.

4.6.4.1.1. This is exactly what Isaiah wrote about the Messiah to come in Isaiah 53:5-6, “⁵ But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. ⁶ All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

4.6.5. Finally, the Lord tells David that in spite of the Messiah suffering the strokes of men due to taking their iniquity upon himself, that the Lord would not take His lovingkindness away from the Messiah, saying, ‘but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him.’

5. VS 7:18-29 - “¹⁸ Then David the king 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? ¹⁹ “And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord God. ²⁰ “Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God! ²¹ “For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know. ²² “For this reason 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. ²³ “And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods? ²⁴ “For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God. ²⁵ “Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken, ²⁶ that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You. ²⁷ “For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You. ²⁸ “Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. ²⁹ “Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”” - David comes and sits before the Lord and dwells upon all of the goodness and grace that the Lord has shown to him, then he prays a magnificent prayer to the Lord

5.1. It is interesting that it says here that David came and ‘sat’ before the Lord in the tabernacle and prayed. Someone has pointed out that this is the only place in the scripture where anyone prays sitting down.

5.2. David though is sitting before the Lord and is in awe of the goodness and grace that he had received from the Lord. To think that the Lord would build for him a house and a kingly dynasty that would last for eternity was overwhelming to David, especially after the Lord had reminded David of where David was when the Lord called and chose him to be king of His people.

5.2.1. It would be good if we Christians would once in a while just sit before the Lord and contemplate all of the goodness and grace that the Lord has poured out in our life. Has He not done exceedingly beyond what any of us sinful and rebellious at heart people deserve?

5.3. Arthur Pink has written that this prayer of David’s is very much a model prayer for God’s people, and he includes the following points concerning this prayer :

5.3.1. All is ascribed to free grace.

5.3.1.1. VS 20-21, ‘²⁰ “Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God! ²¹ “For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know.’

5.3.2. The greatness of God is apprehended and extolled.

5.3.2.1. VS 22, ‘“For this reason 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.’

5.3.3. The special goodness of God to His people is owned.

5.3.3.1. VS 23, ‘“And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?”’

5.3.4. The covenant of grace is celebrated.

5.3.4.1. VS 24, ‘“For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God.”’

5.3.5. There is a believing pleading of the promises.

5.3.5.1. VS 25, ‘“Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken.”’

5.3.6. His supreme desire is that God might be glorified.

5.3.6.1. VS 26-27, ‘²⁶ that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You. ²⁷ “For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You..’

5.3.7. There is a final pleading for God to make good His word.

5.3.7.1. VS 28-29, ‘“Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. ²⁹ “Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”’

5.3.7.2. Effective prayer always involves pleading the promises of God to be made good for our lives.

6. CONCLUSIONS:

6.1. As we consider this story and the way in which David responded to the, “No!” that the Lord answered him with concerning his desire to build a house for the Lord, we ought to ask ourselves how we respond to the Lord when He says, “No!” to us?

6.1.1. Are you willing to serve the Lord in the capacity and calling that He has set before you, even though it may not be that which you might aspire to do in serving Him? The ministry you have prayed to the Lord for?

6.1.2. Just as David in this situation ( of being told “No!” by the Lord ) did not sit around and sulk but instead got busy and begin to support the work that someone else would do in building a house for the Lord, in these situations lets commit ourselves to serving the Lord with all of our heart right where we are, in that place where He currently has us. And do this regardless of our prior aspirations and desires.

6.2. Know in your hearts today that though the Lord may not have opened that door for serving Him that you had hoped and prayed for that none-the-less the Lord is pleased with you for having that desire. He will also one day reward you for that work, that is, if you will handle His, “No!” in the right way!

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