Tuesday, August 6, 2013

How to respond when a blessing skips over us.

King David was a mighty man of God.  He wasn't perfect by any means but he was a great king.. Through his leadership the Armies of Israel had great victories and the name of the Lord was exalted among the people.   

At the beginning of chapter 7 David is reflecting upon his life.  In verse one of 2 Samuel 7 it says,  "After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent."   David's intent was to build a permanent home for God where the ark of the Lord would dwell.  This would be the first permanent structure for the ark.  At that time the Ark had always traveled from place to place with the people in a movable tent.

Now since God had blessed him and the people so much, David desired to erect a permanent resting place for God.    But through a dream the Prophet Nathan was given the instructions that though God would greatly bless David and the armies of Israel, it would be the blessing of his offspring to build the temple for the Lord.

This brings us to the David's prayer of thanksgiving and praise offered to God as it is recorded in part in our text for this week.  "O Sovereign Lord, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.  Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, O Sovereign Lord, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever." 2 Samuel 7:28,29

If you didn't already know that the building of the temple of the Lord was reserved for David's son, by listening to his word of joy you would think that David himself was given permission to build the Temple.   You might expect a note of sorrow in his voice because the blessing was being past on to another.  

Today we are an ego driven society.  We want to do great things and to get the glory for it  but David found glory in the assurance that God's blessing would fall upon his home through his descendants.  He felt over joyed that his son would have this great blessing.

The point for today is simply this.  We may or may not do great things in life but God is faithful and will bring blessing upon our children because of our faithfulness.

David had faith in this fact because he understood that every promise of God is trustworthy!

As parents especially, we need to live our lives in such a way that not only will we experience the blessing of God but perhaps more importantly we need live so our children and their children will receive even greater Joy.   I think David understood this and so should we.

To ponder:  What wonders would you like your children to experience in life?  What blessings do you hope for them?   How will your life and legacy be a blessing to your children.

In a day of over active ego's wouldn't it be great if someone rejoiced when the blessings they had hoped for where passed on to another.

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