Good Morning Friends,
David had one great dream left, he wanted to build a grand temple for the Lord. He had defeated the enemies of Israel and was living in peace in Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 7:1) He had a beautiful palace for himself and his family and was enjoying life in it. (2 Samuel 7:2) Now, David wanted to build a temple that would honor the God he loved so much.
David approached his dream with the right kind of attitude. Before pursuing it he inquired of the Lord through the prophet Nathan about whether or not it would please God. Before inquiring of the Lord, the prophet Nathan gave David his own opinion that it would please the Lord and that God would bless it. But that night the Lord spoke to Nathan and told him that David was not to build the temple.
Instead of allowing David to pursue his dream, God gave David an even better dream. “The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:11-16)
God did not offer David the opportunity to build the temple. Instead, God promised an enduring kingdom, with his offspring sitting on the throne forever. And God promised that it would be his son who would build the temple. It was a dream beyond David’s wildest imagination. His house would not be like the house of Saul, whose leadership of Israel vanished after just one generation. David’s house would contain a long line of kings … with one King who would sit on the throne forever in an eternal kingdom of God.
Some of our dreams come true, God allows us to have our dreams, to pursue them, and to accomplish them. Some of our dreams are thwarted – by our own mistakes, by opposition, by circumstances, sometimes even by God Himself. Sometimes although our own dreams are thwarted, the dreams God has for us turn out to be even grander than our own. In fact, that is what God promised to us. What we see fulfilled in David is what God has promised to us – the dreams God has for us will be even more amazing than any dream we would ever have for ourselves.
The Apostle Paul wrote, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)
God does more in us, through us, and for us than we could ever imagine!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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