A Place At The Table

Introduction – A Soldier’s Weight and a King’s Dream

Have you ever spent time with a war veteran? Someone who has faced the heat of battle?

My father fought in the Second World War—he was in the Battle of the Bulge (that has nothing to do with being overweight!). My brother fought in Vietnam and came home carrying invisible weight. Good men—warriors—but carrying burdens you cannot see.

David was such a man. The women sang, “Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten-thousands.” He killed Goliath. Scripture records that David “made a name for himself” by defeating eighteen thousand Edomites and that he conquered the Moabites (2 Samuel 8). David also carried a deep longing: he wanted to build a house for God. Yet he sensed that his warrior life might stand in the way. Later he would say, “I could not build the temple because I had too much blood on my hands.”

Let’s enter the story.

Introduction

Have you ever spent time with a war veteran? Someone who has faced the heat of battle?

My father fought in the Second World War—he was in the Battle of the Bulge (that has nothing to do with being overweight!). My brother fought in Vietnam and came home carrying invisible weight. He now rests at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. Good men—warriors—but carrying burdens you cannot see.

David was such a man. The women sang, “Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten-thousands.” He killed Goliath. Scripture records that David “made a name for himself” by defeating eighteen thousand Edomites and that he conquered the Moabites (2 Samuel 8).

David also carried a deep longing: he wanted to build a house for God. Yet he sensed that his warrior life might stand in the way. Later he would say, “I could not build the temple because I had too much blood on my hands.”

Let’s enter the story.

I. God’s Surprising "No" (1 Chronicles 17:1–6)

After David settled into his cedar palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.” Nathan answered, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you.”

That night God sent a different word: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel out of Egypt to this day. Did I ever say to any of their leaders, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”

What a shock. David’s dream was noble, his heart pure. Yet God said no.

Maybe David thought, “Is God rejecting me? Is it because of the blood on my hands?”

Have you ever felt that way—longing to do something good for God, only to hear a closed door? God’s “no” can feel like rejection, but very often it’s redirection.

II. God’s Greater “Yes” (1 Chronicles 17:7–14)

God’s message didn’t stop with no. Through Nathan He said:

“I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went and cut off all your enemies. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. …I declare that the Lord will build a house for you. When your days are over, I will raise up your offspring… and I will establish his kingdom. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him… I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.”

Do you hear the exchange? David says, “I want to build You a house,” and God replies, “No, David. I’m going to build you a house—a dynasty, a forever-kingdom.”

Centuries later the angel Gabriel echoed this covenant when he told Mary, “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32–33).

God’s promise to David finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus.

What kind of God does this? A God of grace.

III. Grace Defined and Displayed

David sits before the Lord stunned:

“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men.”

David’s hands are bloody, but God looks at him as honored and exalted. That is grace.

Justice – we get what we deserve.

Mercy – we do not get what we deserve.