Considering the Bible

David’s Prayer of Gratitude

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

Prayer of GRATITUDE – David’s Nation

2 Samuel 7:23-24

23 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?
24 And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God.

David has just been informed by the prophet Nathan, of his kingly lineage being established as an eternal dynasty. Not only that his kingdom would be eternal in length, but the Messiah would be the King. The Deliverer would come through David’s bloodline. David’s dynasty would not just have an endless quantity of years, but the highest quality of rule.

But as any one who may recieve blessing from God knows, those recieving a gift automatically think of others in their lives that are also the recipients of God’s mercy. In this regard, David pulls into his prayer his nation over whom this dynasty will rule.

He speaks of Israel being redeemed by the hand of God two times in as many verses, and describes this redemption as great and awesome. He brought them out of Egypt, a slave state, and cleared the path for this people as they entered the land He promised.

As New Testament believers, we can look back at all of this tremendous work of God and realize this was looking forward to the Son redeeming His people. His people who have made the Lord their God. Even as David spoke of his gratitude to God for His many blessings, he was careful to describe Israel as God’s people, those who made the Lord their God.

24 And you, O LORD, became their God.

Was David thinking of the political nation of Israel? The theocratic kingdom? Or might he have been considering the remant within the nation that had an active and living faith. That remant that did not bow to baal, or ashtoreth, or any such abboration for the people of Israel.

David’s prayer was breathed from a man who was reduced to simple gratitude. It is interesting that throughout this prayer, He uses “I” only once, and that was earlier in describing himself as nothing. “Who am I?”

He constantly refers to himself as a servant though a king, a king who has just been informed his bloodline will rule for eternity. His bloodline will rule not only in quantity of years, and in quality of rule, but also over a people who look to God, a people who seek to honor the king and that bless others.

An ideal kingdom!

To those who have trusted the King, may we be the people David describes, a people who have made the Lord our God, reflected in our decisions each day as we live in the Messiah’s Kingdom.

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible

David’s Prayer of Gratitude

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

Prayer of GRATITUDE – David’s Lineage

2 Samuel 7:18-22
18 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?
19 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!
20 And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord GOD!
21 Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it.
22 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.

David has just been told he will have an everlasting kingdom, with a son on the throne forever. How would you respond to such news? Can we consider his reaction to God’s message in this prayer to God.

First off, may I suggest David’s reaction is one of a God fearing man, a man who considers himself a servant to God, though a king with an eternal lineage promised to him. I bring up the servant topic, because in the prayer David prays, he refers to himself as a servant of God ten times.

Ten times.

For those of us in the modern world, when a preacher gets in front of an audience, and speaks of receiving a message directly from God, it is as if he was “chatting with a friend” A couple buds considering each others opinions. This is not David’s witness! I have mentioned this contrast previously in other posts, where men of God have received a promise or direction from God and the reaction is one of self deprecation, lostness and an utter confession of worthlessness. Consider multiple Old Testament saints as I sought to describe in Psalms for Psome – Ps 36.00.

The man who speaks of meeting God in a casual off handed manner does not reflect the reactions we find of the saints in the Word.

David begins his prayer being astounded by how far the Lord had brought him thus far. After becoming king, he sought to provide an offering of thanksgiving to God in the form of a temple, a glorious offering to the God who had made him the king. This “obvious”‘” assumption on the part of David, though a noble gesture, was not in the mind of God, for God was looking for an eternal kingdom, an eternal temple, an eternal city and an eternal people, all centered in the Eternal King.

David was a lynchpin in this plan to build God’s will in this world, and David’s bloodline would produce non other than the Messiah, King Jesus.

I suppose the best thing David speaks of is that all of this is dependent on God’s promise, on God’s heart, and the revealing of God’s eternal plan to David. Nothing in this prayer speaks to me of David’s accomplishments, but only of God and His will to perform His work.

Although this prayer continues for a few more verses, and the topic changes to the people of God, it is good to see such a prayer as being relatively short. In my reading of the prayer, my watch clocked in at 59 seconds. Under a minute. David had just been given one of the greatest promises revealed to any man, and he spoke for one minute before his God.

Does this observation provide an excuse for short prayers?

Yes and no.

Yes – for if all we do is ask, ask, ask, provide flowery statements and repeat requests over and over, some may consider that to be as the gentiles pray.

Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

No, for if in our prayers we are humble in our confessions of weakness, focused in our communication of praise and adoration, specific in our requests and remain God centered (as opposed to us centered), the length of prayer may not be a factor.

As a matter of fact, true prayer before the Lord may erase the time factor totally. For if I am thinking of the time, I am not thinking of Him.

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible

The Lord’s Covenant with David

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

2 Samuel 7:11b-17

11b Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.
12 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.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

We continue in the passage describing God’s efforts, His plans to build a house, an empire for David, through his lineage. What started out as a well intentioned dream to build a temple for God, becomes God’s plans to build the church through the Son of David.

A continual refrain throughout this passage is the “foreverness” of the kingdom God will establish through the line of David.

But David would have to pass away, enter into death, prior to the realization of this kingdom. And so he entered the grave for a thousand years, waiting to see his Son arrive on the scene. Waiting after multiple sons came and went on the throne, eventually becoming corrupt and worthy of the discipline spoken of above.

This covenant with David (the Davidic Covenant) spoke of the Lord’s training of David’s lineage, and though privileged highly, would not escape the need for discipline when the king sins.

It is not a given that all David’s sons sin, for the passage speaks of discipline “when” those in the house of David sin. As a lineage that had the inherent capacity to veer from obedience to the Father, this inevitably became a reality in each of David’s sons.

Until One came on the scene who obeyed. He obeyed the law, fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law, and was not required to suffer for His own disobedience. Yet He suffered, a terrible beating, a whipping that should have in itself killed the Man, and then the humiliation and suffering of being nailed to a cross, experiencing the taunting, the ridicule, the helplessness of His experience, the abandonment!

He was disciplined “with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men”, but not for His own iniquity, for He was spotless. His suffering was vicarious, in our place, for our rebellion and sinfulness.

Yet there is a portion of this passage that makes me stop and think.

When Nathan is told that God “will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” gives me no pause. Surely there was never a father /son relationship that was clearer, cleaner and consistently based from love than that of the Father and the Son.

What shocks me is that the next verse speaks that the father’s “steadfast love will not depart from him.”

A verse to consider that may impact this promise.

Matthew 27:46 …Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Even in the Father’s abandonment of the Messiah on the cross, as the Messiah cries out to His Father of abandonment, are we to consider this equal to the Father removing steadfast love from Him.

Can this abandonment, this turning of the Father away from the Son while He carries our sins, can this be combined in the heart of God. Can the Father turning from the Son, and the Father’s everlasting love for the Son be one and the same? Is the love of the Father large enough, complex enough, committed enough to allow pain to enter the Son for the sake of the outcome?

Hebrews 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

The depths of God’s love for His Son is beyond us, and will always be beyond our understanding. Thankfully we do not need to understand everything that happened that horrible day. We simply need to accept the truth of the One who hung for our sins, and that rose from the dead, providing us salvation and security!

He is the Great Son of David, the One who has established the forever Kingdom God promised David.

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible

The Lord’s Covenant with David

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

2 Samuel 7

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, that you should be prince over my people Israel.
9 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.
10 And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,
11a from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.

The Lord is continuing to speak to Nathan, telling His side of the story after the king and the prophet both assume He wants a massive, impressive temple. It makes sense doesn’t it, for the Lord to want a house that will impress all the nations and the people of Israel.

No, not from the Lord’s point of view. The Lord is about to illuminate Nathan in relation to David and the people of Israel. And it is all about the Greater David. But I am getting ahead of myself.

This initial portion of the great prophecy of David’s Greater Son, begins with the work the Lord has performed in David’s life, taking him from humble beginnings and making him a prince over His people. Because of the Lord’s work, enemies fell before David, and Israel’s second king will become a man of renown, famous not only in the major religions of the world, but on the national scale, a historic figure.

Through David, the nation will be secure.

Note that the security promised is not necissarily immediate. When I read this passage, I assume the promise will be within David’s lifetime, or at least within his immediate son’s life. But it is important to understand that a son, in the Wordm may refer to a grandson, or a greatgrandson, or any of his lineage. Solomon was a son. So was Joseph. And so was Jesus.

Why do I belabor this point? The prophecy speaks of the future, and it may be months, it may be years, it may be decades or it may be centuries before the promise is realized.

So when Nathan hears verse 10, where the Lord’s promise includes the appointment of a place for my people Israel and that He will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more, it sounds awsome. The Lord continues with the promise of violent men not afflicting them, as formerly.

This is incredible news for Nathan to communicate to David. The assumption is for the promise to be immediate. Let me remind you that although there was a short period under Solomon that the nation enjoyed a security and peace, it was short lived, and the earthly kingdom split apart. Violence continued through Davids reign, Solomon’s reign, through the Babylonian captivity and past the time of Jesus.

That is for those who were of national Israel. For those of the remnant, the faithful, those who followed after the Lord, the promise was real even if physically the promise seemed to be unrealized. Centuries passed and a Teacher arrived, One who would appoint a place for God’s people, and plant them that they be disturbed no more.

For the One who would effectively complete this promise for the people of God was the very One who became the place of residence and rest for the people of God. He is that place where the believer is planted, and where the believer is no longer afflicted by evil men, without the protection of the Master’s permission.

We will go on in our next passage finding out that the Lord not only reminds Nathan of His work in David’s life and his reign over Israel, but more importantly, declares the line of David to be an eternal dynasty, a house of David that will be reigned over by His Son.

It is truly amazing that the promise given to a king in Israel over 3,000 years ago has developed into the full blown expansion of the Body of Christ, the New Testament church where believers find securty and peace in the Son, and have a place of rest under His reign.

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible