Humanity and Spiritual Leadership
2 Samuel 7
gives us a great message about leadership – especially spiritual
leadership. Spiritual leaders don’t
always have an answer from God on tap.
Sometimes they give an answer based on what their spirit is guiding them
to say and they base it on their own understanding of God’s Word. And while you might hear that as the set-up
to condemnation, I’m actually going to accept that and say that this is
alright! Of course, it is alright so
long as the spiritual leader keeps their mind open in case God has something
else planned.
You see,
that is precisely what Nathan does in this chapter. Nathan comes to David and they are
fellowshipping in the midst of one another.
David tells Nathan of his genuine desire to build a temple for the
Lord. Nathan is convinced that David’s
heart is pure and he is convinced that David has good motives for wanting to do
such an act. So Nathan agrees with
David, no doubt thinking at the time, “Why wouldn’t God want a nice house to
dwell in?”
But then
the word of the Lord comes to Nathan.
God speaks to Nathan and tells Nathan that this is not the time to build
God’s house. We’ll go deeper into the
explanation in a little bit, but for now that will suffice. Nathan takes that very message back to David
and tells David that while they both thought it was a good idea at first, God
has revealed to him that the idea isn’t quite so good any more. And here’s the amazing thing. We don’t get any sense of bitterness from
David or Nathan. We don’t get any sense
of resentment. David and Nathan are
content to do the will of the Father and that is enough for them.
They don’t
need to fulfill their dreams, just God’s.
But that
isn’t even the coolest part, yet. Not
only do we not get any resentment from David and Nathan, we don’t get any
resentment from God about Nathan and David’s “presumptuousness.” God doesn’t yell at Nathan for telling David
wrongly. God doesn’t chastise David for
dreaming about building a great house for the Lord. Well, other than asking David who he thinks
he is, but I don’t see that as chastisement but rather a reminder to be humble. What we get from God is correction in
thinking without the need to discipline.
We don’t get the sense that Nathan and David did anything wrong by doing
their brief planning session.
Again,
though, the reason that they didn’t do anything wrong is because although they
talked about their plans their hearts were still open to God’s plan and God
knew it.
What do we
learn here today? Sometimes we have to
do the best we can and trust that God will come along and correct our ways
should we unknowingly fall off God’s path.
But we need not fear it so long as our mind and heart is open to God’s
leading. As long as we are humble before
God and seek His ways over our own ways He can gently correct our actions when
we should make a mistake in our own human understanding (or lack therein).
God’s Promise
So then
God gives this great promise to David.
In a sense, God reaches the whole way back into history and pulls David
back with Him. God goes the whole way back
to Abraham – back to Genesis! God talks
to David about his seed. And God adds
something new: David’s throne.
God had
spoken to Abraham many times about his offspring and his seed. God had told Abraham that his seed would
number greater than the sand on the beaches {See
Genesis 15, among other references}.
And God has fulfilled that promise.
Now God tells David that his seed will rule and David’s throne will be
established forever. David becomes a
part of the promise that he had no doubt heard spoken of with respect to
Abraham. How little did David know that
the promise wasn’t simply for land and rights to rule but for the salvation of
the whole world – those who would receive it – through Jesus Christ!
David’s Response
Notice
David’s response to God’s correction? As
I said before, David doesn’t get mad that God won’t let him build the
temple. David gets worshipful. David is humbled before the Lord and values
that feeling. David comes to the Lord in
thankful prayer. What a lesson to be
learned, although it is no surprise that the one who is used to repenting
should lead us in this example. People
in the practice of being humble before God in repentance are often the first
ones to be humble before God in celebration as well.
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