Dwelling

The goal of our faith should be set on the presence of God.   #daybydaylw   Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   What we have before us in 2 Samuel 7 is the immediate reaction of King David to Nathan’s prophetic word that David would not be building a house for God, and rather that God would be establishing and building a house, a kingdom, a dynasty from David, and that the dynasty would be established forever. This response is a prayer from David. This is the second longest speech-act from David’s lips in 1&2 Samuel. It is one word longer than the prophecy itself, conveying to us that David’s response to God’s covenant promises is thematically as important as the covenant. In other words, we need to pay attention to David’s response just as much as we pay attention to the promises. We need to see how a person of elevated status, how a king, but even more than, a man after God’s own heart, acknowledges the promises of God. In response to this news David walks whatever distance existed between his luxurious house and the tent that the tabernacle was housed in. He enters the tent and “sat before the LORD.” This is the only time in the Bible someone is said to be praying while seated. The word “sat” is the same word used to describe David “dwelling” in a house a cedar, but the ark “dwelling” in a tent. This little detail should not be lost on us. David is now dwelling before the LORD. Before, David was sitting in his house of comfort coming up with plans he wanted to accomplish for God, but now David, after hearing God’s plan for him, was sitting before the LORD awestruck. We consider it the pinnacle of privilege to dwell in luxury; to be in a comfortable state of ease; the highest goal and pursuit to have it all! And David, in the eyes of the world, had luxury, comfort and ease. He had all that could be had, it seemed. But what we find here is that there is a pinnacle that reaches up to a greater privilege, there is a higher goal, there is a more satisfying comfort, and that is to sit before the LORD, marveling at his grace and agenda! And the goal of our faith should not be set on the gifts, on the graces, but on the presence of God Himself. In that great prayer book called The Valley of Vision, one of the prayers goes like this: “I pray not so much for graces as for the Spirit Himself; because I feel his absence, and act by my own spirit in everything. Give me not weak desires but the power of His presence, for this is the surest way to have all of his graces.”