Then the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.” Then Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’
Memory verse: And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 1John 2:17
A few days ago during a group bible study discussion, someone made a very key statement which then became a long debate and it geared towards “doing a good thing or doing what is right.” The reality of our world today is that we get stuck in doing what we feel is right. In 1 Samuel 7:1, we read about a king who had become successful and comfortable seeing that the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies. Prior to this time in King David’s life, he was always fighting one battle or another but here he was in a position of complete rest and then he wanted to do a good thing; build a house for the Lord.
A lot of people today would have automatically jumped at the offer and so did prophet Nathan who gave the king a go ahead. He simply backed the king up and was even quick to say “for the Lord is with you” but was that really the desire of God’s heart? I mean the king had good intentions but the mere fact that the king wanted to do what a good thing for the Lord did not mean it was the right thing to do as He was not doing that which the Lord desired.
After the conversation with David, the Lord sent a different message to the king and in that message it was clear that the Lord did desired something different. He wanted David’s son to build Him a house and not David himself, 2Samuel 7:12-13. Prophet Nathan did not enquire of the Lord before giving the king a go ahead so King David would have progressed through with his own hear desire which was not what the Lord desired.
The difference between the people of old and the generation now is that they depended hugely on God. they literally would not go through with anything without enquiring of the Lord and due to this, we see that those who knew God then were mostly successful with whatever they laid their hands on. In this day and age, we literally just follow the world blindly, most times we don’t even ask God what His desires are but get so engrossed in our own desire that we silence the voice of God.
It may seem obvious already but the desires of God are imbibed in His word and the only way to know if the desires of your heart lines up with His desire and His Word is to study the Scriptures and find out.
We are at better advantage now because we have the word of God as the people of old had to depend on intermediaries. Many of our desires have already been answered by God in the Bible.
Speak to God and Study His word to unlock the desires of His heart. The closer you get to Him, the more your desires will automatically be His will because you are being led by His spirit.
PRAYERS:
- Father I thank you for your goodness towards me
- Thank you Lord for your unlimited grace and favor
- Help me Lord to seek your face before every step and every move I make, help me to know your desires
- Take my will and conform it to yours Lord and above all, let your will be done
- Thank You Jesus for it is well with me
- Forgive my sins o Lord and receive my sacrifice of praise, AMEN.
