2 Samuel 7: David's Plan | No, *I* Will Build a *House* in ☧

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study 2 Samuel 7.

“But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in?’” David was thinking too small, perhaps even making himself a little too big. In his confrontation with Michal, he had asserted his divine right. But now in chapter 7 God reverses this: the fact that David is king doesn’t prove his prerogative to “do all that is in [his] heart.” It rather proves that God is the giver in their relationship—not David. So instead of David’s plan, God says that He will be the one to build, and not a house of wood but a house of royalty, a royal line and an eternal dynasty. We often presume that God will bless our pious-sounding plans, but He will often tell us “no” in order to show the world that the grace is Christ’s and not ours.