The scarlet thread day2

David had a great idea.

God had blessed him in so many ways. The kingdom was at peace (relatively speaking), the economy was up, inflation and unemployment were down, his approval rating was through the roof and he had this great palace in Jerusalem.

David thought, Maybe it’s time to give a little something back. After all, I’m sitting in this great big house, and God’s still living in that rickety old tent. Let’s build Him a house, a Temple, a magnificent structure, something that will make people from miles around sit up and take note.

It sounded like such a great idea. David even checked with his good friend Nathan, who had a direct line to God. The prophet thought it was a great idea, too. There was just one small problem: Nobody bothered to check with God.

Turns out, it was a good idea, but it wasn’t God’s idea. God had a very different plan, a plan that did not include David building the Temple. In fact, God told David he could not build it because of some sinful things he had done.

We can understand how disappointed David may have felt. This was his chance to demonstrate to God just how thankful he was for how He had used him up to that point. But God had something else in mind.

It’s at times like this that we discover something important about God,  His plans are not always our plans. They may seem confusing or even disappointing; they may frustrate us and cause us to question God’s rationality. But God’s plans are always better, always bigger, always longer-lasting. However, it usually requires hindsight to see how true this is. Looking back, what God had in store for David was infinitely better than what David had in store for God.

God promised that one of David’s sons would, in fact, build a temple. He promised to establish that son’s throne forever.

David was thinking about his own legacy and perhaps the nation’s sense of pride. He was thinking about those things in the context of honouring God, and that’s a good thing. But he was thinking too small. God was thinking about the whole world.

God made the promise about one of David’s sons, but the question remained: Which son? From that point forward in Jewish history, many people assumed that the promise had been fulfilled through David’s son Solomon. But as we’ll see in the coming weeks, while Solomon did build a Temple, he eventually died. After his death, the kingdom of Israel was split in half, and many of the promises for God’s people seem to unravel. What happened to all that stuff God told David?

Well, follow the scarlet thread forward for about a thousand years. There, we find someone in David’s line who seems to fit the description in the promise pretty well: Jesus (who so many people insisted on calling “Son of David”, see Matthew 1.1, 12.23, 21.9).

With so many people suggesting that He might be the fulfilment of that long-ago promise to King David, folks would surely have paid attention to anything He had to say about the Temple. After all, if He were the Promised One, He would have to build God a permanent house in order to establish a permanent throne for Himself.

Jesus never built a single building, but He has built a structure— the Church universal, which is made up of all those who place their faith in His sinless life, atoning death and victorious resurrection. All who do so are the new dwelling place for God (see 1 Corinthians 14.25, Ephesians 2.21, Hebrews 3.6, 1 Peter 2.5). And because He has built this permanent house for God, He has been given a permanent throne (see Revelation 11.15). But that’s not all, because then, and this is so like Him, Jesus shares His kingdom with us, allowing us to participate with Him in His reign (see Revelation 3.21).

God’s plans are not our plans. They’re always better, always bigger, always longer-lasting.

Lord God, I so often try to persuade You that my plans and hopes are in my best interests and then ask You to bless them. But when I really think about it, how can I know what is really best for me? I can only judge by appearances, but You look ahead to the outcomes. Only You see and hold the future, and I want to confess that only You know what is truly best for me. Grant that I would become increasingly willing to let loose of my fond aspirations and embrace what You know is really in my best interests. I know I will have to wrestle with this all my life, because I often struggle with what You bring into my life and tell me to do. It is only when I embrace Your goodness and wisdom that I can stop wrestling with Your good plans and purposes.

In Jesus’s  name, Amen