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Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-11,16 (Luke God’s Plans and
Ours Dear brothers and sisters in
Christ: The Lord is with you. Please think about that for a moment: The Lord is with you. The God we worship, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, who is eternal, almighty, and all knowing is present with you—and
I don’t mean that just in a “Oh sure, God is everywhere, so he must be with me
too” sort of sense; no, what I mean is that on account of the faith he has
instilled in you by the power of his Word, he is at this moment in and with you
in a very special way. He is with
you creating the faith in which you stand, continuously sustaining, washing,
redeeming, and sanctifying you to be his own temple – a vessel of his abiding
presence. It’s true that the Lord is
everywhere, but not everywhere is he present like he is with you. The Lord is with you in a very
extraordinary way. In two of today’s Scripture
readings, certain select individuals were told the same thing. First, in the Old Testament lesson, we heard
how King David received this news from the prophet Nathan; and then in the
Gospel reading, the angel Gabriel told Mary the same thing: “The Lord is with you.” And again, we understand that in these
instances, the Lord’s presence with the individuals was something substantially
above and beyond the “well, of course, God is everywhere” sort of being
there. No, in these two cases, we are
dealing with people chosen by God to play a key role in the unfolding of his
plan of salvation. The Lord was with
them in a fuller sense with the intent to use them … to work through
them … to make his presence in their lives a means by which he would fulfill
his promises and bring his grace and blessing to many other people. Now, of course, none of us will play
such fundamentally keys roles in God’s plan of
salvation as did David or Mary. The
things God achieves in our lives will never have the same wide sweep and impact
on so many others as what he accomplished through them. Nevertheless, “the Lord is with you”;
and he is with you for the same purpose he was with them. He would like to use you … to work through
you … to make his presence in your life a means by which he can fulfill his
promises and bring his grace and blessing to others. And so I think it would be good for us to
spend a few moments reflecting on how David and Mary used (and misused)
the Lord’s special presence in their lives, so that we might have a better
understanding of how the Lord would like to operate in our own lives. But first let’s ask:
why these two? What is it about
them that caused the Lord to single them out for special service to him and to
us? It’s a good question because as we
look at their lives, we detect absolutely nothing about them that makes them
stand out of the crowd. Quite the
contrary, in both cases they are exactly the kind of people you would most
likely skip over when choosing someone for a special task. When we first encounter them in Scripture,
they are basically nobodies. And they
don’t appear be particularly well behaved, intelligent, good-looking, or
talented. There’s nothing special about
them. Take David. When the prophet Samuel came to his father’s
home to anoint the next King of Israel, as he had been directed to do by God,
the father proudly presented his seven older sons. Both he and the prophet were certain that
God’s choice would fall among one of these fine, courageous, handsome young
men. Only after the Lord had rejected
all seven of them did Samuel ask, “Haven’t you got any more sons?” To which the father replied almost
reluctantly, “Well … there’s David, my youngest, out taking care of the
sheep; but he’s just a boy, little more than a child. Surely you don’t want him.” Samuel said, “Go fetch him back here
immediately: that boy is your
next king.” And then he added, “The Lord
doesn’t look at people the way we do; the Lord sees what’s on the inside – in
the heart of a man.” And what do you suppose it is that the Lord is looking for
there in the heart? Some
kind of special tenderness or sensitivity? Some outstanding moral
qualities? No,
not at all. As we look at both
Mary and David, what we see is nothing more than very simple and solid faith, a
certain sense of humility – that is, a recognition of
personal unworthiness … and I suppose what might be called an openness to being
led by God’s Spirit to do whatever it is that the Lord directs. Mary’s words say it clearly. After the angel explains the special mission
the Lord has appointed her, she replies, “Let it be to me as you have
said.” The sense of it is, “By myself I
am nothing; but with the Lord, or rather because the Lord is with me, I can do
anything he wants.” And so a shepherd boy is anointed king, and soon afterward
he’s facing the giant Goliath while a whole army of grown men tremble in fear
behind him. Why? Because David was some
great warrior? No. Rather because he knew that the Lord was with
him, and that he would also defend him from harm. Likewise a humble virgin conceives and
becomes the mother of the Son of God.
Imagine having that responsibility.
It obviously wasn’t because she had a lot of experience raising children, or because she was rich and could raise God’s Son
in a perfect environment. All she had was the right attitude of heart; one that said, “Okay Lord,
you’re in charge. What do you want me to
do?” Neither David nor Mary had anything that you don’t
have. Their faith was no greater, their
conduct no better; they didn’t walk around with little halos over their
heads. They didn’t perform
miracles. They were sinners saved by
God’s grace, just like you and me. They
were your ordinary, garden-variety people of God. But they accomplished great things for the
Lord because he was with them and they knew it.
Which begs the question, “Then why aren’t we going forth and
accomplishing great things for the And I think the answer is not that we have something less
than they did, but rather that we have something more; namely, we have
the desire to be in charge. We are more
interested in making our own plans and trying to accomplish them than we are in
listening to the Lord and his plans and committing ourselves to doing his
will. We want to be in control –
and there are two big ways in which we try to exert control. The first and most obvious is simply to say, “No.” When the Lord gives us a task (and we all
have been given tasks by God – you have only to consider the table of duties or
the great commission that apply to all Christians), we respond, “Oh no, I could
never do that! I don’t have the gifts,
the talents, the time,” or whatever. We
hear this especially when the Lord calls people to serve in a position of
leadership or responsibility in the church or one of its auxiliaries. Then it’s, “No, I can’t do that. I wouldn’t be any good.” Despite the self-effacing display, this is
not humility; it’s false humility. What
is really meant is, “I don’t want to do that.”
True Christian humility, like that of David or Mary replies, “I can’t do
that – but because the Lord is with me, I’m sure that he will get it done
through me.” The one who would
accomplish great things for the Lord does not take inventory of his or her own strengths and weaknesses, but rather looks to the
Lord to supply what is needed to get the task done. For with God all things are possible. But there is a second way we try to exercise control that
interferes with the things God gives us to do that is a little more subtle and
harder to detect, and that is when we come up with our own plans and schemes
that we tell ourselves we are doing for the service and glory of
God. That’s what’s going on in today’s
Old Testament reading where we find the middle aged King David comfortably
seated on his throne and making grand plans to please the Lord. Up until this point, David’s life could have
been described as anything but easy. Not
long after defeating Goliath, the very jealous King Saul made David public
enemy number one. He lived as a fugitive
and refugee for many years, constantly hunted by those who sought his
life. He was finally forced to flee the
country and he lived for some time among Later, when King Saul died in battle along with all of his
sons, including David’s dearest friend, Jonathan, David found himself the
unrecognized and unpopular king of a defeated, war-torn nation. Step by painful step he began to unite the
shattered tribes of And now, feeling safe and secure for the first time in his
adult life, he hatches a plan to show his gratitude to God for all that he had
done for him. And it seems to be a good
one. The Tabernacle,
that tent God had ordered Moses to construct as a place for his abiding
presence with his people, and which they had taken with them from place to
place as they wandered through the wilderness, was now over four hundred years
old. It had been standing at a place
called Rather pleased with himself, he bounces the idea off of the
prophet Nathan – who is readily seduced by the prospect of having a real temple
in which to perform his ministry. It’s
not easy being a prophet of a God whose dwelling is little more than a
collection of musty, moth-eaten rags while all the competition, those many
false gods, have fancy, sprawling temples.
He probably figured that it would be good for the cause: more people would follow the Lord if he had a
decent looking place of worship. Without
even thinking to consult the Lord, he tells David, “Go for it. The Lord is with you.” Well, you heard how the story goes: that night the Lord came to Nathan to remind
him of who it is he works for – and who it is that’s in charge. “Go tell David how it is. Remember?
You were a shepherd boy. I
chose you. I blessed you
and made you king. I have given you many
victories. That’s the way this
relationship works: I do things for
you. I do things for my people through
you. You do not do things for me. Have I ever asked you or anyone else to build
a house for me to make my name great and my glory known? No, I haven’t. So don’t you do take it on yourself. But listen up: I’m not done with you yet – not by a long
shot. I’m going to continue to be with
you and bless you and give you more victories until your name is renowned in all the world. I am
going to build something for you. Your
royal house and your kingdom are going to endure forever.” David’s mistake (and Nathan’s) was losing perspective of
who’s in charge, and really, who God is.
While David was struggling and in constant danger and need, he relied on
the Lord – he had to: he was in way over
his head and he knew it. And God was
with him throughout all his trials and achieved great things in and through
him. But as soon as the pressure was
off, David felt less needy and so became less reliant on the Lord. He started to think about what he
could do to glorify God. And I have no
doubt that he would have thrown himself eagerly into the project, convincing
himself that through his work he was exalting the name of God. But that is not how the Lord is exalted. He is exalted not by the praises, accolades,
gifts, or projects that we come up with to honor him and build his
kingdom. Rather he is exalted and
glorified by the things he himself achieves through those who humbly place
their trust and confidence in him. Or to say it another way, the Lord is glorified when we let
him be God. We drift into danger when we
reject his plans, or when we come up with our own. Either way, we miss out, because God’s plans
for us are always grander and farther-reaching than anything we might have
imagined. That’s how it worked for
David. He thought he’d build God a house
– but the Lord planned to give him an eternal kingdom through his great
descendant who would be God’s own Son.
That’s how it worked for Mary.
She couldn’t even imagine what the Lord was going to do for her; but
through her the Lord planned to fulfill his promise to David, and give us all a
Savior from sin. And both David and Mary
are great in the kingdom today, because they let God be their God. What does it mean for us? Well, we don’t have the prophet Nathan or the
angel Gabriel to tell us what God wants to achieve through us – but we do have
God’s Word that tells us precisely what he would have us do. And it is through his Word that the Lord is
with us, and so makes himself our God by creating and sustaining the faith and
trust that assures us of his forgiveness and allows him to work in our lives. It remains for us then to receive the Word
with humble hearts and open minds so that the Lord can direct us, and through
us fulfill his great plans. May he give
us the grace and favor he gave to Mary and David to believe it, so that he can
do it. In Jesus name. Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! |
