A King After God's Own Heart....

Last week, at the church where I serve, we launched into a brand new sermon series entitled Kings. During this series, we are looking at the lives of kings who were placed in a position of leadership over the Jewish people. And as we go through this series and look at the lives of these kings, we are going to discover several timeless truths that have the potential to powerfully impact how we live our lives today.

This week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. We ended our time together last week with the reality that Saul's selfishness and rebellion that was driven by the fear of failing to please others resulted in the lost opportunity for either he or his future descendants having the opportunity to rule as king. God was now taking the throne from Saul and was going to give the throne to another man who was a better man.

And, 1 Samuel 16, we discover that that better man was a man named David. In 1 Samuel 16, we see the Prophet Samuel anoint a young shepherd boy named David King of the Jewish people. Upon being anointed as king by Samuel, God empowered David to rule as King by filling him with the Holy Spirit. God also responded to King Saul’s selfishness and rebellion by removing from Saul the presence and power of the Holy Spirit from his life. Saul, even though in the position of king, began to lose influence among the people. 

And it was this loss of influence, combined with a life that was driven by a fear of failing to please others, that drove Saul to view David as an enemy. As a result, Saul continually attempted to kill the future king named David. First, Saul attempted to set David up for death by continually placing him in military battles where the odds were greatly stacked against him. However, David, empowered by God, continually defied the odds and won great military victories for the Jewish people against the enemies of God.

Unable to kill David indirectly, King Saul changed his tactics by attempting to kill David directly. And for 15 years, David, the anointed king, lived life on the run from King Saul. And while there were several opportunities to exercise vengeance upon King Saul, David responded to those opportunities by trusting God and doing the right thing, even when it was not the easy or the popular thing to do.

Then after fifteen years of running from King Saul, the selfishness and rebellion of King Saul that drove him to disobey God out of a fear of failing to please others caught up to him. Saul’s failure to follow God’s clear commands led to his and his sons deaths at the hand of the Philistines, who were the hated enemy of the Jewish people. And after 15 years as the anointed king by God, King David took his place as the appointed king of the Jewish people.

In 1008 B.C. King David became king over the Jewish nation when he was thirty years old. King David ruled over the Jewish people for a period of forty years. And during his forty years as king, King David distinguished himself as perhaps the greatest king to ever lead the Jewish people.

It was King David that led the Jewish armies to conquer their hated enemies. It was King David who captured Jerusalem and established it as their capital city. It was King David who established the Jewish nation as a military and political power in the world. And it was King David who was described as being a man after God’s own heart.

And as a man after God’s own heart, it was King David who desired, at the apex of his power and prominence, to honor God by building what would later be known as the temple in Jerusalem. We see David’s desire and God’s response recorded for us in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of 2 Samuel, in 2 Samuel 7:1:

Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains." Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your mind, for the LORD is with you."

As King David reflected on the evidence of God’s activity in his life, King David noticed that something did not seem to be right. King David noticed that while the Lord had given him peace and security as a result of the military victories over his enemies; while the Lord had blessed him with a royal residence that was constructed with the finest of materials, the residence of the Lord paled in comparison.

While the King of the Jewish people resided in luxury, the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence of the King and Creator of the Universe, was still residing in a temporary tent that was called the tabernacle. King David, upon seeing what he felt was not right, had a desire to fix what was not right in his sight by building a temple for the Lord that would bring glory to the Lord.

And as a result, King David approached the Prophet Nathan, who was the Lord’s spokesperson at this time in history, with what he saw and sensed. The prophet, from his perspective, agreed with what the King had noticed and encouraged the King to act on what he noticed so that the Lord would receive the glory for His activity in King David’s life.  However, the Lord had a different perspective and plan, as we see in verse 4:

But in the same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying, "Go and say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD, "Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? "For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. "Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?'"' "Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. "I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. "I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also declares to you that the LORD will make a house for you. "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. "I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. "Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever."'" In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

The Lord basically says to the Prophet Nathan “I have something that I want you to tell King David. Go and tell King David ‘Are you supposed to build something for Me to dwell in? Did I ask you to build Me anything, let alone a temple for Me? Have I ever complained about not having a temple? After all, I am the Creator of the Universe and you are just a little shepherd boy from a small town that I chose to lead My people whom I have chosen. I don’t want you to build Me a temple, I want you to be responsible to build and lead My people as My representative. And I am going to work in and through you so that My activity in your life will be remembered for all time. I am going to build a kingdom through you and through your descendants that will last for all eternity. I build a kingdom that will last for all of eternity because one of your descendants will be the Messiah that I am promising to send to bring the Jewish people back to Me and back to prominence in the world after they rebel and reject Me. I am going to receive glory not because you built a building for Me; I am going to get glory because of the Kingdom that I am going to build through you.’”

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as King David. Place yourself in his shoes. You have a plan to honor God by building Him a building. The prophet Nathan, who is God’s spokesman, tells you to act on that plan.

Then, the next day the prophet comes to you and explains to you that God does not like your plan. Instead, God has a different plan. Instead of you building a house for God, God wants to build a kingdom through you and your descendants.

God has just promised you that you will be remembered for all of history not for your building plan, but for fulfilling your responsibility as the representative that He uses to build an eternal kingdom through your descendant. How would you respond?

How do you respond what God blows up your plan because He has a different plan? Maybe you have a plan, but God seems to be blowing up your plan for His plan? How do you respond when that happens?

Tomorrow, we will see King David’s response...