Read: 1 Chronicles 17:1-10; Ephesians 3:20-21
I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house. (1 Chron. 17:10)
Some years ago, there was a book that suggested that some of our difficulties with faith in God is that our God is too small. In other words, by making our prayers and plans too small, we limit our relationship to God.
In today’s reading, King David has fought many battles and moved around quite a bit. Now he wants to settle down, and he wants God to settle down. David wants to build God a house. But there are problems with David’s plan. First, David’s desire to have God settle down can give the impression that God is contained by a building. Second, David wants to build God a house when it’s God who has led the people of Israel. And third, God’s ultimate intention is not to build a house but a household in which the Lord’s name and kingdom will endure forever. In the Christmas story, Joseph, the father of Jesus went to the city of David, Bethlehem, “because he was of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4). While God appreciates David’s sincerity of heart and later will fulfill David’s request for constructing the temple, God wants to enlarge David’s understanding.
We often want to do something about personal and world problems. God invites us through prayer to share our plans and desires. The good news is that when we do, God will take our plans and desires beyond anything we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).
As you pray, be open to God’s plan that is beyond what you can ask or imagine.
About the Author
Kent Fry is a retired pastor and visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute in Holland Michigan.
