“God’s Covenant with David” 2 Samuel 7:1-17

The prophet Isaiah once said that God’s way are not our ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Often these are quoted words, especially in times of trial. But when we take then from the bigger picture and apply them to our personal life - then they become no less true, but much harder to swallow. So it was for David. David has been at this point in his life and in the life of Israel when everything seems to be coming together. He has been on conquests that have made Israel’s name great. He has ascended to the throne. And he is looking around and realizing that his life is really good. But then his thoughts go to the ark of the covenant This ark had been with the Hebrew people from the days of Moses. It continued markers from their journey from the wilderness into the promise land. The stone tablets with the Ten Commandments. Aaron’s rod. A pot of manna. All of this was placed in this chest that was made of wood and covered in gold that was carried from place to place and went before them in battle. Then in camps it was placed in a sacred tent called the tabernacle. The ark of the covenant, for all of its importance, still dwelled in the tabernacle, while David was living in a place of grandeur. And that didn’t sit well with David, so he decided to construct a temple to put the tabernacle in - a house for the Lord. David told Nathan, his prophet, the plan. We will remember Nathan from the time that he called David out for his reckless behavior towards Bathsheba and Uriah. In that instance, Nathan was correct in his words calling David to account. But in this instance, his words of blessing to “Go, do all that you have in mind, for the Lord is with you” - well, they were wrong. God didn’t waste any time letting Nathan know that he had misspoke that blessing. That same night he gave a word to Nathan to go back to David with a question: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? God goes on to state that he cannot be contained in a house of human hands. God never asked for a house like the one David lives in to be built for him. God’s ways are not our ways. But God doesn’t leave it there. He essentially said to David, if we were going by human standards, you would not have been king. But I, the Lord, took you out of the pastures where you were tending sheep and I have anointed you to this position. All that you have done is because of me, not the other way around. I would like to think that David’s intentions were noble and full of honor for the Lord. He felt bad that he was surrounded by blessings while the Lord seemed to dwell within a box and a tent. He wanted to do something for God. But I also wonder if what God is saying to David points out something even deeper as well. Sometimes when we, or David, want to do something grand for the Lord, don’t we also end up honoring ourselves through those actions? Sometimes what we do to try to point to God, comes right back around and points to us, when looked at through human ways. What it boils down to is that mind of the Lord is not like our and God is not captive to our human expectations. I want you to take a moment to think. Has there ever been something that you really wanted to do to honor God, only to have it fail spectacularly? In some instances, I believe because it simply isn’t the right. time. Other times, the Lord calls for us to come try again. But still other times, our wonderful thought and plans were not in line with God’s will. They were not what God required of us. On the flip side, sometimes there are plans that come to you that are from the Spirit. They were not of your own mind. In fact, they make no sense in light of human reason yet we are obedient to follow them anyway. As a result, they are blessed wildly beyond anything we would have expected. God’s ways are not our ways. But God didn’t stop with simply saying that he did not desire a house; God went on to say that he would form a house for David. An everlasting house for David’s descendants. But even that isn’t in earthly terms. For we know that David’s dynasty will fall about 400 years after this covenant. Does that mean that God was not faithful? By no means! Because God wasn’t talking about a covenant to preserve the monarchy. God was talking about a promise, the promise - to send a Messiah to set the people free. Which we find in Jesus, who is from the house and lineage of David. There is so much richness, my friends, for us in this short section of scripture. But I want to lift up three things in particular for us today that all relate back to that statement from Isaiah that God’s thoughts are not are thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways. First, God’s presence cannot be confined to one place. While we call the church building the house of the Lord, God is not only within these four walls. God’s presence is with us everywhere. It is us who fall to recognize God’s presence, not God who fails to be present with us. Second, this covenant that God was making with David wasn’t just with him. It was an eternal covenant with eternal ramifications. While David may have been thinking small, as tends to be our human way, God was casting a vision for redemption through God’s own Son coming to set us free. And that eternal promise is still changing hearts and lives today. The question is really how are we sharing that? Because sometimes I think, we too, get caught up in thinking small. In our ways and thoughts. We think that hearing of God’s salvation is contained to this place, when really we are sent out to live into God’s salvation offered to us through Jesus every single day. Are we living as people of the promise? Lastly, even though David could not understand all of this, God’s grace still laid the foundation. In Methodist speak we call that previent grace - the grace and love that came before. Before we even realized that we needed it. Maybe before we even knew God. Certainly while we were still caught up in our thoughts and ways. Yet, God even during that time, made a way for us out of no way, through Jesus Christ. David’s life was changed through that covenant long ago, but friends so was ours. What would have been lost if David would have simply went through with what he had planned. And what is lost today if we insist on our own plans instead of God’s? “For my thoughts are not your thoughts  nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” Amen.