“The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.” —2 Samuel 7: 11-12 (NIV)
God wants to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, as King David of ancient Israel learned.
The words above were meant to comfort David because he had just been denied a deep desire: to build God’s temple. “I had it in my heart to build a house…But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for My name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood’” (1 Chronicles 28:2-3).
From his political enemies to his lover’s husband (Uriah, married to Bathsheba), David had fought and killed for power and to protect his kingdom. God’s denial caused him grief and guilt over the lives he had taken and the treachery that had destroyed good men.
But that’s not the end of the story. God did not allow David to build Him a house, but He promised to “establish a house” for David.
The New Testament begins with “a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David” (Matthew 1:1). Out of David’s “house,” fashioned by God, the promised Messiah came to the world. The king who loved God and repented fervently for his sins wanted to do something significant for God. But the Lord did something wonderful for and through David.
David was not so different from us. While we long to accomplish something great for God or mankind, our efforts sometimes fail. We don’t realize that the Lord wants to do something great for us.
David hoped to build a house of stone, but God built a house of flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, the descendant of David, the most passionate and intimate love the world has ever known changed the human race forever.
Remember. When God denies us something, even when we have the best of motives, He has an even greater plan. David’s intentions were good.
