The Ultimate Blessing

2 Samuel 7:1-14a: Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” 3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”

4 But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: 5 Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? 6 I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” 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 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 live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, 11 from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. 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 ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth 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 a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.

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Today’s lectionary reading is the continuation of last week’s story of David. Last week we talked about why King David was greatly bless? Generally he was like most of us that have the God given gifts and strength, as well as human weaknesses. But what makes him different from most other people is his intimate relationship with the Lord. The Bible says, he was a man after God’s own heart. That’s why he was greatly blessed.

So, last week we looked at how he lived a life of a man after God’s own heart. We talked about if King David were alive today and we could consult him about how to be a man after God’s own heart, I believe he would advice us to do at least the following four things.

1 – Stay Close to the Presence of God

2 – Remember to Count the Blessings

3 – Resist the Temptation of the Flesh

4 – Fellowship with Godly People

When King David’s wife Michal rebuke him and lure him to walk in the flesh, Dave insisted that he would walk in the spirit. David said, "I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes;" The Bible said, because Michal rebuked a man after God’s own heart, she had no child to the day of her death.

In today’s passage we continue to learn how to be a person after God’s own heart.

1 - Make a grateful return for God’s blessings

Now, this is what David meant by making himself yet more contemptible in the eyes of his unspiritual wife. He wanted to build a house for the Lord.

David was a man of war, but he didn’t like war. In one of his psalms he said that "I am for peace" (Ps. 120:7). Now he has a lot of free time because he has no war to fight. The scripture says, "Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”

It seems like King David and his spiritual friend Nathan were enjoying Chinese tea on his newly built cedar house balcony for the first time, after a life time of wars and battles, and David looked over the veranda and saw the tabernacle in a distance and felt guilty for living in a house of cedar and allowed God to live in a tent. After all it is because of God’s grace that he is living in this house of cedar in a peaceful kingdom.