Ok, I am on a roll today.....2 entries in one day...a little ridiculous, but I am so into the Word today and just can't seem to get away from this table!! Maybe it is because tomorrow is the weekend and my husband has already got a ton of things he wants us to do like going to the beach and other family stuff, and so the Lord wants to fill me up for the weekend!!.
As I continued on reading this morning I found some good stuff and can't help but journal it ....
In 2 Samuel 7 (and 1Chronicles 17) David (who is now King) has an idea to build a temple for the Ark of the covenant. He tells his friend Nathan about his idea, and as most good friends would do, Nathan says...."Yeah man, go for it!" After all what he wants to do is for the Lord and it looks all good right?? Well in verse 3 there is a "but" it says That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in." Then God goes on to tell David that He has other plans for him.
I learned 2 things from this chapter. One is that as friends, we shouldn't always just be quick to tell our friends....Yeah, go for it! Even if what they are thinking about doing looks great and would seem glorifying to God. Maybe our response should be more like "I will pray about that for you, and if that is what the Lord wants you to I will support you!" I wonder if Nathan was a little too quick to speak. I wonder if a lot of times I am too. (I think I already know the answer to that!) I think it also tells us that if we are to seek advise of approval from a friend we should make sure that they are seeking God's wisdom as well and that we don't take their opinion before asking God's.
The second is that not all things that are "good" or seem to be what God wants us to do are actually what he wants. We ALWAYS have to ask God if that is His desire for us or our own. Obviously David wanting to build a temple for God was a wonderful idea and really showed his love for Him, but it wasn't what God wanted David to do at that time. I need to remember that when something comes up that looks great and I think God would surely want me to do it. I still need to ask Him first, and not be so shocked if His answer is no. I have had to learn this over the past year as I have let go a lot of the "good" things I was going and activities I was involved in to spend more time focusing on what God really wants me to do. There are so many ministries out there that need help, and it can be so tempting for me to take one on, but for right now I am pretty certain that God has told me that my ministry is at home. Right here teaching my children to follow the Lord. If you read on in chapter 17 God actually kind of tells David the same thing....verse 12 says..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. How neat! If you read my entry a few days ago I talked about how I felt I was the beginning of a new generation of Christ followers. I have a lot of work to do to prepare my off spring to establish His kingdom! Listen to verse 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ I think that makes it worth all the hard work!!
This is David's (and mine!!) response to the Lords promise......“Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?
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