Desiring More of God
By: Francis Judge
The life of David contains many wonderful stories and life lessons for us to enjoy and ponder over. After all, these were written down for our example and instruction. In second Samuel chapter seven, we have one of the more significant stories that shows us how David handled being told “No”, something we all struggle with.
After many years of faithful waiting, David had finally become king over the whole of Israel. Just before chapter seven of second Samuel, he had finally succeeded in bringing the Ark up to Jerusalem and now he is looking to fulfil his heart’s desire of building a permanent resting place for it. The prophet Nathan seems to be caught up in the momentum of David’s winning streak and says, “go and do all that is on your mind, for the LORD is with you” (2 Sam 7:3)1, as the following verse tells us he has a prophetic dream and has to go back to David with a different answer.
David loved the Lord (Ps 18:1). This love was his response to the overwhelming favour and love that the Lord had showered on him. He hoped to reciprocate that love by doing for the Lord what the Lord had done for him: establishing his place, a temple. This was a good, godly desire; we can tell because the Lord tells him that Solomon will build it later. What the Lord says to David is strong, and if we try to put ourselves in David’s shoes, could easily have crushed us! But David’s response in verse eighteen is amazing!
Temples and Tabernacles
Before we can make sense of his response, though, we need to look at what the Lord actually says to David through Nathan. (As an aside, it is worth noting that Nathan isn’t rebuked by the Lord for telling David to just “go ahead” without first having asked the Lord). The Lord’s response and tone seems very similar to the way that he answers Job, who had been crying out for an answer through most of the book that bears his name. God does not try to engage Job (or David) on their own terms. Rather, the Lord declares who he is, and who David (and Job) are to him. Taken impersonally, this could be likened to our (in)significance as one individual among eight billion on one planet circling one star, which is among 100 to 400 billion stars in our galaxy, which is itself one among two trillion galaxies in the observable universe2! Yet, because it is the personal God who created that vast universe that is speaking to David personally, he instead gains meaning and purpose.
Specifically, God corrects David’s desire to settle down in verses six and seven by saying that he had never asked for a house like David’s (implying that he understood David’s motives in wanting to build the temple), while he had given very specific instructions about the construction of the Tabernacle. He couches all of this couched in the ancient language of leadership in Israel: shepherding.
The Lord then reminds David of his humble beginnings as a shepherd boy — the connection with his previous statement about the leaders of Israel being unmistakable — and tells him clearly that it was he who took David from watching his father’s sheep to the kingship. He continues by reminding David that his successes during the various stages of his life are all attributable to the Lord’s doing. With this reminder, he also adds a promise that he will do yet more for David in verse nine and, through him, for Israel.
Then, in the middle of verse eleven, the Lord declares the covenant that he makes with David to establish his own son as the one who will build a temple – even though David hadn’t been looking for it. The Lord builds on the promise in later chapters to expand it to the promise of his messiah (whom we know as Jesus) already being hinted at in verse fourteen.
David’s response, starting in verse eighteen, is filtered through a humility that is both genuine and deeply overwhelmed by the grace and mercy of God he has already experienced, and God’s promise of still more! He acknowledges the Lord’s refusal to allow him to build the temple by praying that the he will do what he has promised through Solomon. He embraces the big-picture promise of blessing that reaches to eternity yet precludes him from doing what he wanted to in the short-term.
Lessons in Love
There is much we can ponder and learn from David’s attitude and actions in this chapter. These could be called lessons in love; lessons learned from the consequences of David’s love for God.
Even our best intentions are not guaranteed to be God’s. One of the reasons for this is that the Lord has put eternity in our hearts (Ecc 3:11) but we are still finite; we can see what is good and the spirit within us years to do it, yet it is not always for us to do. When David realised this, he puts his energy into preparing everything he could for Solomon to act on it. Sometimes, we need to take a longer time perspective on the present in order to receive what God wants for us.
When God tells David “no” it could easily have offended him. It is a strong, corrective word; especially after Nathan’s “go ahead”. But king David’s humility allows him to accept the apparent change of direction. His humility embraces both the bigness of God and his own position as king. As he begins his prayer to the Lord in verse eighteen, he is full of thanks. For many of us, this would be nearly impossible, or end up being some kind of manipulation tactic. Yet, for David, this is the state of his heart: gratitude. This is the epitome of handling criticism well – something that most of us struggle to do.
Despite all the let-downs in the earlier part of his life and the radical success of his later life, David has kept his sense of awe and wonder for who the Lord is. For many of us, this is one of the first things that slips away as we grow in our faith. Many of the greatest believers in history have had this lasting sense of awe, and though we may have lost it, we can regain it in the Lord’s presence. It is worth regaining.
In fact, faith-history (like that recorded for us in Hebrews eleven) is one of the things that God has been very intentional in having recorded for us. One of the main reasons seems to be that we can see others who have faced the same and even worse things than us, but still come through faithfully. And, even when they have failed, that the lord has been able to restore them again. This is why it is good for us to share our own testimonies of the lord’s work in our lives.
It is not accidental that the Lord answers David in a similar way to Job by revealing himself, his character, and his plan. It is hard for us to comprehend the absolute goodness of God and his plan; especially when there is pain and confusion for us in the short term. The fact is that the Lord is working out everything according to his own will (Eph 1:11), for himself, and for his own reasons, can make us struggle. Yet it is that what is best for the Lord, and this also happens to be what is best for us.
1 All scripture quoted from the CSB (https://csbible.com/) unless otherwise stated.
2 A depiction of our physical significance in the universe by Brian Cox (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iAytbmXYXE).