It's human nature for any of us to want to feel special.
Whether you seek recognition at school or get a promotion at work, or have a lot of likes on social media, people are prone to brag about their successes or to magnify themselves. But today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg takes us to the life of King David and shows us how he offered a more appropriate response when promised a forever dynasty. 2 Samuel 7, and reading from verse 18. Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far?
And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O LORD God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O LORD God. And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O LORD God. Because of your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it.
Therefore you are great, O LORD God, for there is none like you, and there is no God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth, whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things, by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever.
And you, O LORD, became their God. And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, The LORD of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O LORD God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O LORD God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.
Amen. And we ask God's help as we come to the Bible. Father, we come now saying, Speak, Lord, to us through your Word. We recognize that you speak to us through what you have already spoken. And so we pray for help that we might both understand and believe and live in the light of the truth that is here in the Bible. For we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen. Well, we resume our studies at the eighteenth verse. Some of you will remember how we struggled all the way through the first seventeen verses but eventually got there. I think it's appropriate for us to be reminded of what we have said as a kind of gateway into our study of 1 and 2 Samuel, indeed, into a study of all of the Bible and particularly the Old Testament. And I'm referring to Paul's statement in Romans 15 and in the fourth verse, where he says, Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Everything. So, in other words, it is a comprehensive statement. To teach us. This is Paul writing in the first century about all of the material that has gone before, and he is saying to those who are the initial readers of his letter to Rome, all that material was written not only for its impact upon the moment and the day and the time, but in order that it might teach us and teach us this morning. And that the material that has been granted to us is of an intensely practical dimension insofar as it is to bring about endurance so that we can keep going and encouragement so that we might live hopeful lives. And our conviction as we study the Bible together, of course, is that God himself encourages us—each of us. The encouragement comes from God through the living Word of Scripture as God continues to speak to us through what he has spoken to us—that what he has spoken to us we now have in our Bibles, and we turn to our Bibles, and we say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Now, that this is so comes across quite forcibly in a phrase that you will notice at the end of verse 19, where David says, This is instruction for mankind.
This is instruction for mankind. Now, we won't delay on that now, but we will come to it as we work our way through these verses. The chapter, you will recall, began with the desire on the part of David to build a house for God.
He was living in a nice spot, and the ark was in a tent, and so he said, I think it would be good if we did something a little better. You will recall that that request was denied him, and yet, despite the fact that he is not going to do this, the Word of God comes to him through the prophet—that is, through Nathan—that the Lord—and I'm referring to the eleventh verse now—that the Lord will build you a house or the Lord will make you a house. So, David, you're not going to make a house for God, but the Lord is going to make you a house. And we've noted already how that word house comes again and again, how it refers not sometimes to the physicality of a dwelling but to a dynasty, and so on. And then, in the sixteenth verse, that house, your kingdom, shall be made sure forever before me.
Your throne shall be established forever. Now, we make reference to that, because it is important to recognize that all that now follows here in the prayer that David prays is triggered by all that has gone before in the Word that has come to him through Nathan the prophet. And you'll see that in verse 17. In accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
So the words that were spoken by Nathan painted, if you like, or created a picture. And it was as he heard God's Word to him through the prophet that he was enabled, then, to see things which he would never have seen by any other means. Now, if you think about that—and again, we want to lay here—the same is true for us, that it is as we hear the Word of God that we then see things in a way that we would not see things were it not for what it is we hear. Then we come to verse 18, which begins interestingly with Then. Then, we're told, after all of this, David went in and sat before the LORD. Now, presumably, he went into the tent—the tent that has been mentioned back at the very beginning of the chapter. You remember that it says back there, if your Bible opens in that way, he was, See, now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the LORD dwells in a tent. And now here he is, sitting before the LORD.
It may be of passing interest to you that that is the same verb that is used both of dwell and of sitting. So, having heard from God, he now speaks to God. First, he listens to God, and then he responds in prayer. This, of course, is the pattern of prayer throughout the story of God's dealings with us. The hymn writer helps us by saying that prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed. So that when we think in terms of our response to God, when we think of that in terms of prayer, we ought not to think of it in a formulaic way or even in a way that demands that our language and the process of our speech is ordered in just a perfect fashion, but in the same way that you're able to sit in the presence as a child, perhaps with your father or even with your mother, and you don't have to actually say very much, but you're able simply to engage with them. And so it is that David sits. He went in purposefully and sat before the Lord. One of the ways that we could summarize these verses all the way to the end of the chapter is to view David, first of all, as sitting in the Lord's presence, and then secondly, as standing on the Lord's promise—sitting in God's presence, standing on God's promise. We're not going to approach it in that way, but I think it is one way to summarize it. Instead, I want to employ four words to help us through at least the opening section of the prayer.
We want today get through all of these verses to verse 29. And in order to help us remember the four words that we're going to use, I created an acrostic so that we can perhaps remember it, because the words are very similar to each other. The acrostic is this Eat out every day.
Eat out every day. All right? And that gives us, with the first letter of each of those words, the first letter of the four words that I'm going to give you. Which actually sounds a lot more confusing, and I wish I hadn't mentioned it. But anyway, here is the first of the four words. The first word is exclamation. Exclamation. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far?
Now, you're looking at the text, and you're saying to yourself, Well, why do you say exclamation? Isn't it actually a question? Well, of course it is a question, and you will notice that in our English text there is a question mark at the end of verse 18. But I take it that it is rhetorical—in other words, that David is not actually asking for an answer to this question—that at least, I think, in the early part of this prayer—and it may or may not be true the whole way through—we're actually eavesdropping. We're eavesdropping on private prayer.
We're given the privilege now of going into a place that few of us will ever get in the lives of each other. I don't know how you begin your day. I don't know whether you pray on your knees or standing up.
I don't know. And you don't really know about me either. And so it's a very special thing when we're able to go behind the scenes and enter into the life of the servant of God as he turns to the living God. Murray McShane is the one who has reputedly given this quote, A man is what he is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing else. The same would be true of a woman. A woman is what she is on her knees before God.
This is what she is, and nothing else. In other words, the reality of our lives exposed before the living and true God is nowhere made clearer than in that place where we engage with God, as we find David doing here. What is this man, then? If a man is what he is in this way, what about David the man? What do we know about him? Well, those of you who have a good memory will remember that we were introduced to him as being handsome and with beautiful eyes. We know that he was chosen by God. We know that he was anointed by Samuel. We know that he defeated Goliath. We know that he is the king in Jerusalem. In other words, we know all these things about him, and we know too that he had plenty of reasons for making the mistake of thinking of himself more highly than he ought.
After all, his CV is pretty good—not only handsome, not only chosen, not only anointed, not only victorious in battle, and so on. And as we sneak in, as it were, to this very secret moment, as we peek in on it, we listen to him as he makes this exclamation, "'Who am I, O Lord? O Lord God, who am I that you have brought me to this place? O Lord God, why have you showered your blessings on someone as insignificant as me?'" You see, he views himself—himself, first of all—as undeserving, and he recognizes also that he comes from an undistinguished family, that his perspective on his own life before the greatness of God is such that he is humbled. He's not walking around, cocksure of himself.
He's not presenting himself as some peculiar individual. No, he recognizes that that is not the case. After all, in verse 8, he knows this. Nathan was given the charge to say to David in his disclosure, verse 8, "'This you shall say to my servant David. Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep.'"
That's where he came from. And not only did God take him, but God kept him. Verse 9, "'And I have been with you wherever you went, and I have cut off all your enemies before you.'" The God who takes is the God who also keeps. David, in one of his psalms, will write about how the Lord is the one who watches over his going out and his coming in. "'From this time forth,' says David, and even forevermore, I lift my eyes to the hills." He says, "'Where does my help come from?'"
Well, you see, his prayers are true to his life. If you go back to the Goliath scene, you will remember the Goliath system. You're coming out to me. You think I'm a dog?
You're coming at me with stones and sticks and things? And you remember when he says, "'I come to you in the name of the living God.'" That's where his confidence lies. And so we're told that David has become greater and greater because the Lord of hosts was with him. In short order, he is where he is in this house of cedar by divine enabling and not on account of his own genius, or not on account, ultimately, of his own human endeavor.
Now, let's just pause and acknowledge something. Every single one of us in Christ may say the same thing. We are where we are, not as a result of peculiar gifts and worthiness.
That's why we sang the song. My worth is not in what I own. My worth is not in who I am. My worth is not in me. This, you see, is what David is pointing out. It's quite remarkable, isn't it? "'For this is the one to whom I will look,' says the Lord God, he or she who is humble in spirit and who trembles at my word." That is why we see David right here, amazed at the privilege of being a servant. "'Who am I?'
is always and ever the right response, as opposed to, "'Let me tell you who I am.'" That's the first word. E for eat, for exclamation.
O for out, for observation. Because he goes on to say in verse 19, "'And yet,'" he says, "'and yet this is a small matter compared to what's coming.'" And of course, what has happened is that this word that has come to him through Nathan is making it clear to him that God has even bigger plans for him, bigger plans for his house—for his house.
We're thinking dynasty. Verse 16 again, "'And your throne, your house, your kingdom shall be made sure forever and ever.'" And you will notice what he says here. This, verse 19, "'This was a small thing in your eyes.'" In your eyes.
That's a metaphor, isn't it? From the perspective of God, from the perspective of heaven, from the perspective of eternity. You think about all the things that preoccupy us and concern us in the moment, and they're realistic and they're important. They're vital in the journey of our lives.
But when you stand far enough back from it, if you put it in a long continuum in terms of time, it pales. You see, I think it would be perfectly understandable if David were to have viewed everything that had happened to him to this point as kind of the apex of things, that this was it. You know, after all, from shepherd boy to king of Jerusalem to king of Israel. It must be… There can't be anything more now, is there?
Mm, yeah. This is just the beginning. You will notice again, see verse 19 there, "'You have spoken also of your servant's house.'"
Here we go. "'For a great while to come.'" "'For a great while to come.'" What is he referring to when he says, "'You have spoken of your servant's house'?" He's referring to verses 11 to 16.
That's the context. Notice that it is your servant's house. When you have time later on in the day, you can count how many times he is referred to here as a servant, and how many times he says again and again, "'You are the God of heaven's armies. You are Adonai. You are God. You are Lord.'" In other words, he's got this very, very clear in his mind.
"'You are great. Who am I that you would speak so clearly to me and that you would have these plans for me?'" Actually, the real wonder is not that David refers to himself as God's servant but that God refers to David as his servant. If you look back up in your text, you will see that in chapter… earlier up in 7, the word that is given to Nathan is to go and tell my servant David, "'Tell my servant David.'"
Now, you won't know this unless you've researched it, but I can let you into a secret. For David to be referred to as my servant David takes him into rare company. For to this point, the only other people in Holy Scripture referred to in that way are Abraham, Moses, and Caleb. So when God speaks to Nathan in this way, and he designates David in this way, it is quite dramatic. He is the servant of God.
He is only the servant of God. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Alistair has titled today's message Instruction for Mankind.
We'll hear the conclusion tomorrow. As we're learning, God's instruction and promise to King David in the Old Testament extends to you and me today. And if you'd like to know more about our promise-keeping God, be sure to request the book we are currently recommending. It's titled Covenant Foundations. It's written by Alec Matier, who's a highly respected author and theologian.
He passed away in 2016. And if you listen to Truth for Life regularly, you've heard Alistair quoting him often. This book contains profound insights drawn from Alec's teaching.
It unpacks God's covenants throughout the Old Testament and shows how they focused on salvation, how they relate to our lives today, and why we can trust God to keep his promises even when the world seems confusing. Covenant Foundations will only be offered for a few more days. So ask for your copy when you donate to Truth for Life using the mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate or you can call us. Our number is 888-588-7884. And if you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to Truth for Life at P.O.
Box 398000, Cleveland, Ohio 44139. And if you'd like to purchase additional copies of the book for your church library or to share with others, you'll find them in our online store. They're available for purchase at our cost of $5 while supplies last. Visit truthforlife.org slash store. We are glad you joined us today. We'll hear the conclusion of today's message tomorrow, and we'll learn how we can respond to God's blessings and promises just as David did. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
