Instead of his words, let us
turn to the 2nd book of Samuel and chapter 7 and we'll read
verse 18. The 2nd book of Samuel, chapter
7 and reading verse 18. Then went King David in and sat
before the Lord and he said, Who am I? O Lord God, and what
is my house that thou hast brought me hither to? We are able to observe in this
chapter the reaction that David had when he received the word
of the Lord through Nathan the prophet that was in fact contrary
to that which he desired to do. And it will be good for us this
morning to ponder the truth of these words and to realise that
what is recorded is indeed there for our instruction. Now David was concerned with
regards to the dwelling place for the Lord. You will remember
that when the children of Israel had come out of Egypt there hadn't
been very long in the wilderness when God gave details to Moses
of the tabernacle that was to be erected and in that most holy
place was the place where God said he would dwell and where
he came down and communed with his servant Moses. So we see
then that that had been fulfilled and for several hundreds of years
this tabernacle had moved around not only of course in the wilderness
but then at a later date into other places and now David thought
well he was living in a very comfortable cedar built house
and the place where God dwelt was in a tent and his thought
was well surely now It would be good if I was to build a wonderful
building for God to abide in. And we would think, well surely
that was a good desire, David. It was a right desire. His desire
was that God should have a much better dwelling place that he
might indeed abide in on the earth. Of course we know that
God is in every place and God dwells in the heavens. But nonetheless
we see here what was his desire. And we see, he spoke this to
Nathan, and we see what Nathan the prophet responded. And he
said, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. And that we see, wouldn't it,
to be a very clear instruction, a very clear direction. And we
may in our lives have a desire which we think is the motives
are good and the plan is wise that we desire to do something
which will be for the honor and glory of God and we may be encouraged
in it perhaps by godly people perhaps by God's servants and
we may assume well then surely this must be a right situation
but then we observe what occurred God came to Nathan and told Nathan
this was not his will it was not God's will that David should
in fact build this place to dwell in and he told Nathan who it
would be it would be one of David's sons and we know of course it
was in fact to be Solomon, God's son And so Nathan came and told
David that which the Lord had spoken to him. And it wasn't
of course all, as we might say on the face of it, bad news.
Because he was able to tell David how the Lord would bless him
and bless his house for a long time. And that was of course
a wonderful favour and blessing. And so Nathan came and faithfully
declared to David that which he had been told. And now we
see the reaction of David. And this is so relevant to all
of us in our lives because we live on this earth and we need
God to direct us and to speak to us. But we see the reaction
of David. And the reaction of David was
one of submission to the will of God. What a blessing that
is, to be submitted to the will of God. You see, David thought
this was a good idea, he planned it, he was encouraged in it,
but in actual fact it was not God's purpose for him. So we
might think, surely he might first of all question everything,
but no, he submitted himself immediately to the will of God. And it comes forth in this, and
we see David coming in and he prays, he went in and he sat
before the Lord, that's probably sitting back on his haunches,
kneeling before God, and he comes and he says, immediately he brings
this expression, Who am I, O Lord God? It gives us a clear picture
that David didn't think anything highly of himself. Although he
was an important king, a king of God's people, the king of
Israel. And yet he comes like this and
he says, in the sight of God, who am I? Oh Lord God, what am
I? Nothing at all. It's good you
know when we come to our God, And we acknowledge in this way,
who am I Lord? Who am I? We come like that,
especially as it might appear that our thoughts, our ideas,
our schemes have been completely crossed out. And we have not been and are
not going to be allowed to pursue that thought which we thought
was good. And we thought it was right and we were encouraged
in it. And yet God said, no, that is not the way. That is
not my will. And so he comes and says, who
am I? O Lord God. It's a wonderful
blessing to have a godly submission to the will of God. And then
he says, not only who am I, O Lord God, And where is my house? Thou hast brought me hitherto."
Indeed, he was able to confirm that the Lord had brought him
to that place. He brought him hitherto. He watched
over him. He preserved him. And there he
was, brought to this place. And he was able to confirm that
God had brought him there. He was able to say in this way,
and thou hast brought me hitherto. What a blessing for us today
if we can also confirm such words before our God. David wasn't
praying before the multitude, he was praying to his God. He
was as it were pouring out his heart to his God. And he was
able to come and say in these simple words, and what is my
house? that thou hast brought me hither
to and then he goes on to elucidate and he says and this was yet
a small thing in thy sight O Lord God but thou hast spoken also
of thy servant's house for a great while to come and is this the
manner of man O Lord God and what can David say more unto
thee For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. You see, it's good
when the Lord directs us to realize that the Lord knows all about
us. The Lord knows everything about
us. The Lord knows his purposes for us. He knows his decrees
for us. He knows what he would do for
us. A great thing David did was to was to know and to confess
and to be encouraged by was that the Lord would bless him. The
Lord would be with him. The Lord would redeem him. The
Lord would redeem his house. You see, that's really the great
and important thing, isn't it, for us? To know in our lives
the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us. The Lord God has delivered us
from all our sin. The Lord Jesus has died for us
to atone for our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ has died
upon Calvary's cross to redeem our souls. This is, isn't it,
the great and important thing that we need to know individually
and we need to know indeed for our families. We need to know
for the Church of God indeed that we are all those who are
redeemed. That's the great and important
thing. And how David was able to understand the wonderful truth
of this. It goes on to say, for thy worth's
sake and according to thine own heart, the heart of the Lord. How humbling to think of that.
What a statement. hast thou done all these great
things to make thy servant know them." The Lord does great things
that we might know them. Well, has the Lord done great
things for us today that we know them? That we know them. Now
then, as the Spirit of God may direct us to observe this, and
then you see, I believe As David is able to declare, we have right
views of God. Although David's plans have been
crossed out, David's view didn't diminish. It got greater as he
observed his God. Wherefore, he says, thou art
great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is
there any God beside thee. according to all that we have
heard with our ears. What's our view today of our
God? Have we a view like this? Can
we say, O thou great O Lord God, for there is none like thee,
neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we
have heard with our ears. What a view we had of the greatness
of God. And know that you and I I have
a view of the greatness of God. There was no complaining. There was no even suggesting,
Lord, I've got this view. Lord, I've had this plan. Lord, it's been confirmed. There
was nothing of that. He was submissive to God's will. And he had a wonderful view of
God. And may we have a wonderful view
of God. Just like this. What a blessing
it is to know today that we worship and we serve a great God. Oh, there is none like Thee.
Do we view Him as the Almighty God, the Saviour of sinners? And what one nation in the earth
is like Thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem
from people to Himself, Yes, for a people for himself. Just think of that. God has redeemed
us for a people for himself. A people for himself. A chosen
people. An elect people. But those people
are chosen indeed to serve him. And we know that David had been
taken. from a very menial position,
from the sheep coat, from looking after the sheep, God had chosen
him. That he would be the one who
should serve him in this way. And not only him, but also the
people of Israel, the nation. What nation in the earth is like
thy people, even like Israel? whom God went to redeem for a
people to himself and to make him a name and to do for you
great things and terrible for thy land before thy people which
thou redeemest to thee from Egypt from the nations and their gods. He had a great view, didn't he?
For the greatness of God and the power of God and the favour
of God to him and to Israel, and to know that the Lord had
done great things and terrible. Well, this morning I'll be able
to trace out in our lives, individually, perhaps as a church, and a church
and people, to be able to bless God for great things that He
has done. And sometimes we may and look
for great things in a wrong way. We may think of great things
being things that we see so signally and so clearly and so powerfully.
And yet you see when the Lord touches our heart, when the Lord
moves our spirit, it is indeed a great thing. And we might think it's a small
thing. In actual fact, it's a great thing. And it emanates from our
great God. And it comes from His wonderful
compassion and mercy toward an unworthy people. We only have
to consider Israel of old, how unworthy they had been and were
to receive the blessing of the Lord. And yet how gracious and
merciful and kind He was. And what was He doing? He was
fulfilling His promises. He was fulfilling the word unto
His servant upon which they had been caused to hope. That word
would regard to their salvation. That word would regard to their
deliverance. That word would regard to their
redemption. Surely these are the great words
that you and I need to hear and to know. that those words which
God has promised are being fulfilled with regard to our spiritual
condition, our spiritual situation. David was able to confirm these
truths. He was able to bring them before
his God and to bless God for the fulfillment of them. It's
a wonderful thing if you and I today are able to come to Argonauts
and bless God for His fulfilment of spiritual favours to our soul. Egypt, Israel have been brought
out of Egypt as God had promised. My friends, God has promised
to bring His people spiritually out of Egypt. My friends, God
will do it. And God has done it. And they weren't able to remain
in Egypt any more. The time had come for deliverance.
The time had come for redemption. And what a wonderful picture
that was, wasn't it? When Israel came out of Egypt. With that
slain lamb, that Passover lamb. That shed blood upon the doorposts. What a beautiful picture it was,
and is today, of redemption for the Church of God. And if we
have a right view today, and may we have a right view today,
a glorious view of the greatness of our God as we come before
our God, and it may be in a way like David had to come with those
things naturally which he proposed and thought were going to come
to pass, were all put in this array, but He was able to rejoice
in God his Saviour. He was able to come and to bow
before the Lord. He was able to come and to bow
down and to acknowledge the greatness of his God. For thou hast confirmed
to thyself thy people Israel, to be a people unto thee forever. And thou, Lord, art become their
God. There's no greater blessing,
is there, than to know that the Lord is our God. Because if we know the Lord is
our God, we can be encouraged to believe that He who has helped
us hitherto will help us all our journey through. Indeed,
He will give us daily cause to raise new Ebenezers to his praise. And so we have here, therefore,
this word of David, God's servant, able to come and say, for thou
hast confirmed, well, my friends, it's been confirmed to you and
me, confirmed that Lord has redeemed our soul. The Lord has laid out
in his life that we might live and therefore it puts these things
into a right perspective that the only really important things
are the things that concern our eternal well-being, concern the
eternal destiny of our soul and to realise that the Lord indeed
is with us. And so he comes and continues
to say And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning
thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever,
and do as thou hast said, and let thy name be magnified forever."
You see, he desired that God's name might be exalted and magnified,
and surely this should be the desire and the concern of every
one of us that His name might be honoured and glorified in
our lives, lifted up and exalted. It might be magnified. You know when something is magnified,
you know what it's like when you look through a magnifying
glass, don't you? You're looking at some printing
or a picture or something, and what does it do? Look through
a magnifying glass. It enlarges it. Enlarges it. well may we look
through a magnifying glass at God and see him enlarged so we
have greater views of him and we bless God for it perhaps we
weren't seeing things as good as we should perhaps our eyes
weren't quite as clear as they were and we needed perhaps as
it were a magnifying glass and now as we look through that we
see the glory of God's plan of salvation We see the wonder of
God's purpose toward us. We see His amazing love and grace
which is taking care of us. Oh, and it's magnified, it gets
bigger and bigger. And we observe the greatness
of our God. And there our desire is that
He might be exalted and honoured and glorified. O now, says, and
now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy
servant, and concerning his house, establish it for ever, and do
as thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified
for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel. And
let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. For thou, O Lord God of hosts,
God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will
build thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee." What a blessing it
is. If God puts into our heart, we might say it like this, that
Lord God indients within us prevailing prayer, true prayer, before our
God. It's one of the greatest blessings
to be favoured with prevailing prayer, indicted by the Spirit
of God. And it's when we, as it were,
are speaking to God face to face, when we're privileged to come
into the holy place for the merits of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and by faith to behold The greatness of God. Well, God's
servant David was blessed with this view. Remember the reaction. He came and he sat before the
Lord and he said, first of all, speaking of his own smallness
and littleness, and then setting forth the greatness of His God. Well, may we today ponder these
things, consider our way, be able to come and sit before our
God and to pour out our heart, acknowledging how great He is,
how wonderful He is, how amazing He is in being gracious to us
looking down upon us, remembering us in our lowest state and yet
sending His mercy and His love upon us so that we are able to
truly come and bless God and rejoice in His great salvation. Oh may God then give us grace
to observe these things and to be encouraged by them and to
have the evidence in our hearts The Lord is with us in our spiritual
life and to believe that he who has begun a good work in us will
accomplish it in the day of Jesus Christ. Amen.