2 Samuel 7 -- Lord God, Who Am I?

Everyone has a picture of a king surrounded in luxury, with servants doing his bidding, with his every word being his way of getting what he wants, but that wasn't David.  I continue to marvel every time I read this at how humble before God David was at this time in his life.

"Then King David went in and sat in front of the Lord.  David said, 'Lord God, who am I?  What is my family?  Why did You bring me to this point?  But even this is not enough for You, Lord God ... What more can I say to You, Lord God, since You know me, Your servant, so well! ... There is no one like You!.'"

What it must have been like to hear God say, "The Savior of the world will be called 'Son of David'"!  I could not imagine God saying that the Savior might be called 'the Son of Gary'.  How special David must have felt!  Yet how insignificant he knows he is compared to God.  My commentary said, "The way David responded to this great Word from God is a good example for us to follow today.  He humbled himself before the Lord and at least ten times called himself the servant of God ... he poured his heart out to the Lord."

David wanted to build a house for God, feeling ashamed that he was living in a cedar and stone palace while God was living in a tent.  But God told him he wouldn't be the one to build it.  "This announcement must have disappointed David, but he accepted it graciously and gave the Lord thanks for all His goodness to him ... God's servants must learn to accept the DISAPPOINTMENTS of life, for as A.T. Pierson used to say, 'Disappointments are His APPOINTMENTS.'"

Father, it seems to have been three years of disappointments for me,  But You've been showing me that during this time, I've had more appointments with You than ever before.  You've taught me to trust You more, to depend on You to rule my life in Your wisdom and love, and to not doubt the outcome will be Your will.  You've taught me to dwell (feel at home) with You, despite my circumstances.  In some small way I feel a kinship with what David must have been feeling here, leading me, like him, to ask, "Lord God, who am I?"

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford