A MAN AFTER GOD’S HEART
2 Samuel 7 and Psalm 132
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
It is interesting that God took the trouble to educate David and help him see his (God’s) own heart, that he had blessed Israel and David with no thought of self gain and to reassert his commitment to see his promises through to the end and then to add a new promise that is personal to David, that his house will stand forever.
Our God does not seek personal benefit from his actions but he rejoices when we respond to him in appropriate ways: selfless desire, humble self-regard, and an open and thankful heart to receive God’s blessing.
David was in no way a perfect example of a man after God’s heart but his humility before him and his love and admiration for God’s generous nature and his desire for God’s name to be known and acclaimed reveals to us a man who is not self-occupied or obsessed with power and success but one who loves God for who he is. Psalm 132 describes this as self-denial and we see in David how the more we empty ourselves of pride and self the more God desires to fill us with his goodness.
It is such a man that God chose to associate himself with forever, whose descendant will be the one who would pave the way for us to be temples of the Holy Spirit thus inheriting all the promises that God showered on David our ancestor.
“This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.”