LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
David and God’s House
What can you do when God pours a bucket of cold water over your dreams?
Christian Chen
Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-3; Psalm 132:1-5, 13.
David was a man according to God’s heart and rarely do we find an Old Testament character who satisfied God’s heart so deeply. David wasn’t perfect. He was just like you and me. However, the bible says that he was a man after God’s heart.
The Sufferings of David
In psalm 132 it says, “Oh Lord remember David and all the suffering that he endured”. When we think of David’s sufferings, I think we know of some of them. When he was about fifteen, he was anointed secretly by Samuel as king. In reality we know that he truly was the king, but he was a king without a throne, without a crown. Because he was secretly anointed as king, from that time on David suffered greatly at the hands of king Saul. He was running for his life at that time, from one wilderness to another wilderness; from one cave to another cave. For about 14 years, he lived the life of a vagabond.
If we read some of the psalms that are related to that period, we get a real impression of the sufferings of David. Because of the jealousy of Saul he was chased like a dog. You can imagine how many sleepless nights he must have spent without being able to find a place where he could rest. The wilderness or desert speaks of restlessness. Only a handful of people followed him. Wherever he went, those four to six hundred people followed him closely. He was a king, but everybody knew that it was Saul who was on the throne. David was king only in the eyes of his followers. During that period of his life, when he was wandering in the wilderness, he suffered one humiliation after another. This was the suffering of David.
Fleeing from Absalom
David had to run for his life because of the persecution from Saul, but he never imagined that later he would have to run for his life from his son. Absalom was the most handsome man in Israel. Out of all of David’s sons, it was probably Absalom who touched the depths of his heart.
When Absalom rebelled against him, seeking his life, David had to flee from the throne and he crossed the kidron valley and ascended the Mount of Olives, crossing the mountaintop. Then he crossed the River Jordan. Because he was a king fleeing from his throne, many people despised him. Some people cursed him, but king David let them curse. Even his helpers wanted to kill him and the king said ‘let them do it’.
Moreover, the priests took the ark and came to David, so while he was wandering in the wilderness, the ark followed him. But David said to the priests, ‘please turn back and don’t follow me. Follow the will of God. If, somehow, I can please God and He sees fit, then I may return. I must come to the ark, the ark must never come to me. The ark should always be the centre of everything’.
Now David learned a lesson when he was under discipline, and he had such a pure heart that he dared not invite the ark to travel with him. So he said ‘wait in Jerusalem; if the Lord sees fit, and I am accepted by God Himself, then one day I may return to Jerusalem’. When you read all of these stories, then you think that you can say that you know about the sufferings of David.
Another type of suffering
However, when we read psalm 132 and verse 1, “Oh Lord remember David and all the suffering he endured”, here the suffering of David is specific. This is a suffering of David that is almost unknown to us. If you look at the context, David was already on the throne at that time and God had granted him rest. He had overcome his enemies, so now he found his own rest. This was the best time in his whole life. He was in Jerusalem and not only had he taken the fortress of Zion, but he was also sitting on the throne of David.
The throne of David was a unique one. If you study the first chapter of Matthew, there were fourteen kings on it. There was Solomon, Hezekiah and others but only David is mentioned with the title ‘king’. What is the reason why only these fourteen kings are mentioned in Matthew? What about the kings belonging to the northern kingdom? All the kings mentioned, sit on only one throne. Solomon did not sit on the throne of Solomon but he sat on the throne of David. It was the same with Hezekiah. In God’s eyes, there was only one throne in Israel.
When David was running for his life in the wilderness, on two occasions God put Saul into his hands. David could have finished with Saul. If on that day he had done something with Saul, the following day he would have been on the throne. No more humiliation, no more cross. Surely it was time enough? After fourteen years David should have been expecting to be on the throne at any moment. Now, this was a very precious moment in time; it was God who gave Saul into the hand of David, but David put Saul back into the hand of God once again. He dared not touch the anointed one. This is the life of a king. He dared not use his own hand to shorten the discipline of God. God wanted to make a real king out of David and finally, God was satisfied.
In the beginning, it was God who anointed David. Why did David have to wait? Not only did the Holy Spirit have to anoint him, but he had to wait for his brothers to anoint him. Later, the house of Judah anointed him and the house of Israel also anointed him. Then David was on the throne and the dream was finally realized.
Brothers and sisters, if you know something of the cross, if you know a little bit about the wilderness, if you know a little bit about the disciplining hand of God, then how we long to shorten that period. It took fourteen years for David to finally reach the throne. Now he could enjoy rest. There was no more running from one wilderness to another or from one cave to another cave. Now he was in the cedar palace and should be enjoying his rest.
However, now we are told of the suffering of David. This was not when he was fleeing in the wilderness but while he was enjoying his rest, sitting on the throne of David. Here then, are the sufferings of David, when his dream has been wonderfully realized. Do you know that kind of suffering?
When God blesses you and you have a wonderful family, wonderful children, a wonderful house, a prosperous business, and you are wonderfully used by the Lord. The doors open for you everywhere and when people greet you, it’s because of your success. You no longer live in your original condition, but by the grace of the Lord, you’ve really come to the mountain-top of your Christian life. It’s as if you’re sitting on the throne that you’ve always dreamed of. Now, when you talk about suffering, it ought to be in the past tense, not in the present. But thank the Lord, that’s why David was considered a man after God’s heart; when his dream was realized, when he was enjoying rest, living in the palace of cedarwood, we are told that David suffered for many, many long nights.
How do we know this? David once expressed his heart to Nathan the prophet: ‘Behold, I am living in a palace of cedar; now why is the ark of God still in a tent?’ When you read psalm 132, where you find the sufferings of David mentioned, it says “he swore an oath to the Lord and made a vow to the mighty one of Jacob: ‘I will not enter my house or lie on my bed’” Now, remember that his house was a house of cedar and he said ‘I will not enter my house or go to my bed. I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the mighty one of Jacob’.
Nathan replied to him, ‘you do whatever you want. If you want to build a house for your God, go ahead.’ But remember that before David intended to build a house for God, he went through suffering and that suffering is unknown to us. It was while David was enjoying his rest, in the palace of cedar. He couldn’t sleep for many nights and he had no rest.
When you are in the wilderness, it is understandable if you cannot sleep sometimes. The pillows of stone would make it difficult for you to sleep. You worry about tomorrow because everything is uncertain when you’re living in the wilderness. Everything is changing from one moment to the next and you have no sense of security. Not only do you worry for yourself but also for your parents, your children. We probably know about this type of suffering.
But when the wandering life is behind us and by the grace of the Lord we reach the mountaintop of our life, then that ought to be the time to rest. However, David was not able to sleep and we read of the sufferings of David.
Let’s read 2 Samuel 7 verses 1-2 again: “Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.”
Now, if you compare this passage with psalm 132, you can imagine how, after many sleepless nights, David came to the prophet and through these words he was saying ‘while my God has no rest, I have no rest’. We can see how David’s heart was one with God’s heart. And so Nathan answered, “whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it for the Lord is with you”.
David had not yet revealed what was in his mind. He only knew that he could have no rest until God had rest. Because of his love towards his God, he had something in his heart and Nathan knew that very well. Nathan represents the Holy Spirit.
The House is the Church of God
If we translate God’s house into New Testament language then we know that we’re talking about the church of God. Our Lord Jesus said, “I will build my church upon this rock”. The church of God is the house of God and Peter said, “we come to Him as living stones, being built together as a spiritual house”. Paul said, “you are the house of God, you are the temple of God”. In the letter to the Ephesians, we find a calling: Paul talked about the hope of his calling. What is the calling?
Some people think that before we were saved, one day we answered his call, ‘come, sinner, come’ and we came to our Saviour and that’s calling. After we’re saved, one day we hear a call from the Lord, ‘Come and follow me and I will make you a fisher of men’. So now we know the hope of his calling and most people will say that they know they’ve been called by the Lord.
However, when Paul talks about the hope of his calling in Ephesians, when you compare it to what you find in the letter to the Colossians, then that calling is a unique one. If you read those two letters you find the calling is this: we are called to be one body. We are called to be built up as the church of Christ. This house must be finished before the Lord’s return and He will then present to Himself the glorious church.
Not only therefore do we have our individual calling but we all share the same calling. No matter how many Christians there are in Temuco, some of them hear a call and that calling is that they may become one; that they may be one body. Now we know that Christ is building his church but that we also have a part in it. Paul told the people in Corinth, ‘No matter what you are doing, I prefer to use one word of understanding because then you learn how to edify the saints’. The word ‘edify’ actually means build up the saints. So when the church comes together, we have a mission: not just to have a happy time, even though it is wonderful when we can be together, but to build up the church. Are we building up and edifying the saints? When you speak, when you share something, do you think brothers and sisters will grow? Then, you can build the church in love.
A Dream from David’s youth
We know that this is God’s desire and somehow this desire was being placed in David’s heart. We don’t know when David had that vision. Maybe it was when he was young, when he was only a shepherd. At that time, he said ‘the Lord is my shepherd’. However, in the last verse it says, ‘surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever’.
Where was the house of God at that time? There was a desire which God somehow put into David’s heart, even when he was very young. When he finally reached the mountaintop and was sitting on the throne, he should have been satisfied and enjoying rest, especially since he had spent fourteen years in the wilderness. Why then could David not sleep? Because God’s ark was still in a tent.
Brothers, to know God’s heart is one thing, but to feel God’s heart is another. Through messages, books and magazines, you can come to know the will of God. You can know that our Lord wants to build His church and that before He returns, He will present the glorious church to Himself. You have all this knowledge, but where are you? You are in the house of cedar. You are enjoying all the rest.
Where is the ark of God today? If we are willing to be built up together as the church of God, remember that first we must have the heart of David. This is the beginning of all true building. Otherwise, all that you know is nothing but a dream. Everything will be in the future tense and it will just be theory. But when you live in the house of cedar, it is very real. Perhaps you drive a wonderful car, you have wonderful children; these things are very real, but what about the house of God? Is it still a remote dream? Or do you know that God is accomplishing what He wants?
How can we be built up together? The first step is the suffering, such as the sufferings which David experienced. If we don’t know anything about this kind of suffering then we are simply dreamers. You can wait for another ten years and nothing will happen. You may be very busy and there may be many open doors for you. But where is the ark of God? Do you think God really has what He wants? Remember, when you are busy working for the Lord, that doesn’t mean that God has necessarily found His resting place. We need to learn the lesson from the story of David, how God finally used David so that His will could be fulfilled and the temple of God was built.
Before this however, David went through deep suffering; the working of the cross cut so deeply through his life. When God’s will was fulfilled, then we find that David was indeed the man after God’s heart. The house of God was no longer just a dream in psalm 23; one day it became a reality. History tells us that the house of God was a reality. This became true because David’s dream was realized. So how is God’s dream to be realized?
You are not the one
Let’s go back to 2 Samuel 7 verse 4: “That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying, ‘Go and tell my servant David this is what the Lord says, ‘Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?’”
In the daytime, Nathan said to David, ‘Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it for the Lord is with you’. In other words he should realize his dream; why? Because the Lord was with him. However, less than 24 hours later Nathan spoke to him again. If you read through that chapter, you find that even though the Lord appreciated David’s heart, it was a difficult night for David. Although he’d already had many sleepless nights, this night brought even greater suffering. To his surprise, God said to David ‘You are not the one’.
God used Nathan to speak to David on two occasions. When he committed the sin of adultery and murder, David refused to confess his sin for almost a year. If you read the psalms, you will know exactly what happened. He despised the word of God and took another person’s wife as his wife. Finally however, God sent Nathan to talk to David. Nathan said to him, ‘you are the one’. David never expected this awful act to happen; as a king he didn’t want to let anything of this kind happen in his kingdom. But God said to him, through Nathan: ‘You are the one’ and then David confessed his sin and wrote psalm fifty-one; a wonderful hymn of repentance, but it was the result of Nathan’s words, representing the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit.
Then, God used Nathan on another occasion. After many sleepless nights, while David was so zealous for the house of God, and even after Nathan had previously told him to go ahead with his dream, suddenly, Nathan came to David with bad news: ‘You are not the one’.
You can probably imagine David coming to God after Nathan had said ‘go ahead’ and his mind was full of plans and ideas. He had a passion for God and was abounding in zeal for God. But he never expected God to pour a bucket of cold water on his dreams saying ‘No. You are not the one to build because you have shed so much blood’. This is the suffering of David.
Brothers and sisters, we are not qualified to build the church of God. How often we hurt our brothers and sisters. In God’s eyes, how much blood there is on our hands. Just because you know some theology or some bible truth you say ‘now I’m going to build the church’. But when you try and build the church, because of your temper, because of your nature you unconsciously hurt this brother or that younger brother. So, do you think God will use us to build His church?
If you want to build part of a wall 5 feet long, you work very hard, but because you hurt other brothers you in effect destroy 3 feet of it. So, if we want to build together, sooner or later the Lord must say to us, ‘you are not the one’.
There was a lady called Sister Barber who helped Watchman Nee the most, and someone once asked her ‘What is the secret of working for the Lord?’. She replied, ‘The secret of working for the Lord is to not work for the Lord.’ This is the suffering of David; consecrating everything to the Lord, whole-heartedly and for the Lord to say ‘you are not the one, you are not qualified’. This is the beginning of the building of the Lord’s house.
Now what would be your reaction if, under those circumstances, God said to you, ‘you are not the one’?. Would you say, ‘OK. I’ll love the world in that case. If it’s not going to be me then I’ll have nothing to do with it. I won’t go to meetings any longer. I still smile at my brothers and sisters. I still love them but I’ve become very passive because God said I’m not the one.’
God may not speak that directly to you but He may choose to speak through a brother or sister. So you think, ‘Ok, I’ll still go to the meetings but I’ll no longer be assertive, no longer contributing with my talents’. Brothers, was that the case with David? No. Only when God says ‘No’ to us will it really test where we are with Him.
Sometimes we have a pretension of being very spiritual. But part of the work of the cross, part of the suffering if you want to build the church of Christ, is the most difficult part to swallow: when you are full of passion and zeal and a bucket of cold water is poured over you which comes from God Himself. How do you react? That’s the story of David.
The Building of the house itself
Why did God say to David ‘You are not the one’? Well, you need to read the whole bible to properly understand why. He had the heart, but not the qualification. Sooner or later, we too must know that we are not able, and this is the working of the cross.
So, you have to be patient and listen to what the Lord says. If we read on to Samuel chapter 7 and the last phrase of verse 11, “The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself will establish a house for you. When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth fromyou, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me”.
Now why is it that none of us is ‘the one’? Before you want to establish a house for God, you need to let God Himself establish your house. The Lord Himself says that He will establish a house for you. In your heart, you think about God’s house. In God’s heart, He thinks about your house. When your house is established, then the house of God will be established. Before you want to work for God, you have to allow Him to work in you. For you, it is impossible; you are totally unqualified. You will only be qualified when your house is established.
David had many sons. If God was going to establish a house for David, then one of the sons would be chosen and that was Solomon. In 1 Chronicles we find that that night when God promised David He would establish his house, and that one of his sons would sit on the throne of David, He said that that son would build a house for God. Only when David’s house had been established, then Solomon would be born and would sit on the throne of David. He would be the one to build the house of God. This is the way that God builds His own house.
We are just like David; none of us are qualified. We need to allow God to work in us, to work in our house. Solomon is part of God’s establishment; when God has done His work, then through Solomon the house will be built. God won’t use David directly, but that doesn’t mean that He has given up on David. On the one hand God doesn’t use you, but on the other hand God will still use you in a very indirect way. Only when the house has been established, then one of the sons will be born and will be on the throne and God will use him to establish His house. Now we understand the way to God’s house.
God has to work in us and in our house. For this reason, family life is very closely related to church life. Without normal family life, you will not have normal church life. If you don’t know how to govern your house, how can you govern in the church? For this reason, David had to allow God to do His work in a very deep way.
We know how David learned the lesson; David failed terribly and came under the disciplining hand of God but by the grace of God, Solomon was born. When Solomon became the one that God had chosen, that reminded David that he wasn’t able to build the house of God. He was only a sinner preserved by grace. Solomon’s birth reminds us of the story of David’s failure. David was still a vessel in the hand of God, but that vessel was completely broken.
God is a just God. God never owed David anything. David became a broken vessel and by the mercy of God the vessel was re-fashioned. When Solomon was born, that vessel was a broken one. God’s ways are always higher than our ways. Finally, Solomon was on the throne.
Building the house of God is not just a question of giving orders and then starting with the building. If you read the history of the building, you find it is Solomon who is directly active in that building.
After David’s failure, when he was under God’s disciplining hand or when he fled for his life, when his son Absalom chased after him, David yielded under the hand of God. When someone cursed him he said, “let them do it. If the Lord is pleased with me He will let me come back to Jerusalem”.
David had all the capacity to take the ark with him. He could easily have kidnapped the ark of God for his own interests. If the ark of God was with you, it meant that the presence of God was with you. But, when the ark was almost following him, David said “no; let the ark return to Jerusalem”.
According to the book of Proverbs, if we are pleasing to God he will ask even our enemies to reconcile with us. When you still have many enemies, be careful; somehow in your life there is something that does not please the Father. If you yield to the hand of God, remember that finally David came back to Jerusalem and even those who cursed him came back to him and asked for forgiveness. How beautiful this is! When David learned the lesson, when he pleased the Father, his enemies finally reconciled with him.
The place for the building
Now we come to the latter part of David’s life. In 1 Chronicles 21, we find that David sinned again, this time numbering the people. He was restored, but this was very dangerous; especially as he was now back in Jerusalem. This is the temptation: you know that God is with you and is pleased with you and gradually your flesh will rise up again. Finally, David wanted to know the extent of the national forces under his command. The bible says that he sinned against God and this is one of the two great sins recorded in his life in the bible. One was that he committed adultery; another one was to number the people.
Finally, David knew that this was a sin against God when angels almost slayed the whole city. Therefore he prayed and God told the prophet, “ask David to go to the threshing floor”. The threshing floor was on Mount Moriah. If you go to Jerusalem today, when you are on the temple mount and especially on the western slope, then you are on the same spot as the threshing-floor. When the evening wind blows, the farmer would have done the winnowing there and all the chaff would be blown away by the wind.
When God sent the prophet to ask David to go to the threshing floor, what is the significance of this? The threshing floor is where you separate the husk from the grain of wheat. When you feed people, you must feed them with the grain not with the husk. Our flesh is husk; Christ is the grain. When you serve your brothers and sisters, if you are not careful, when you intend to feed people with Christ, you may unconsciously be feeding them with yourself. That’s why David was very proud and wanted to number his people; he wanted to know about his performance and achievements.
Brothers and sisters, he sinned against God and for that reason David had to go to the threshing-floor. The work of the cross had to cut deeply through the life of David and then he could be used, the hands of God.
When David went to the threshing-floor, he offered up the burnt offering and to his surprise fire from heaven poured forth upon the altar and consumed the sacrifice. Whenever the heavenly fire consumed a sacrifice, it meant that God was satisfied. When David saw that happen, he said, “this is the temple of God”.
Before the people of Israel entered into the promised land, God sent Moses to talk to them: “If you get into the land, don’t follow the custom of the pagans who always go to the high places nearby and make their offering. Instead, God will choose one place among the twelve tribes and 3 times every year all the people of Israel will go to that place to offer their sacrifice.” In other words, if you want to build the house of God, God has His chosen place and you must go there.
But four or five hundred years passed by and after people entered into the land, no one knew where the place was. If you want to build the house, you first need to say, “who is qualified?”. Now we know that David was not qualified but Solomon was qualified; it was all by grace. Furthermore, you need to ask “where are we going to build the temple?” Solomon didn’t know, David didn’t know; they were all in the dark. They knew that one day there would be a place chosen by God.
Thank God, after his painful experiences, finally David’s eyes were opened; on the threshing-floor, the husk and the grain were separated and here you find the foundation for the house. This is the base for the house of God and it is exactly the same place where Abraham offered up his son Isaac on the altar. Now, where should the house of God be built? We have two stories that tell us; the story of Abraham and the story of David.
It cost David so much, but now he saw the will of God. Among twelve tribes, for over four-hundred years, no one knew where to build the house. For the first time in history, David saw the place. Thank God, because God had to build David first. Without establishing his house, David could not know where the foundation of the house was. This is the lesson that David learned when he was getting old.
Let’s read 1 Chronicles 22 and verse 1: “Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.” David’s eyes were finally opened. On mount Moriah, on that threshing floor, the house of God should be built.
If you translate that into New Testament language, what is the foundation for the church life? There are two important elements: Firstly, is there someone who is like an Abraham offering up Isaac? Secondly, are we like David going through the threshing floor?
Preparing the materials
In Chapter 22 verse 2 it says: “So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God.”
After David knew where to lay the foundation for the house, he became very active. God had said, ‘You are not the one to build the house’ but this didn’t mean that he wasn’t the one to prepare the material for the house. When you are preparing the materials, you are in the background, but when you build the house, you’re in the foreground. Solomon was in the foreground; he received all the glory, because from then on the temple would be known as the temple of Solomon. David however, was behind the scenes. No matter what he did, people couldn’t see his glory. If we know the story of the building of the temple, we know that it involved 90% David’s efforts as opposed to 10% from Solomon. Because Solomon was in the foreground, he received all the glory.
Brothers and sisters, are you willing to continue? If God says, ‘you are not the one’ that doesn’t mean that you are not the one to prepare the materials. Are you willing to do that?
Thank God. If you read Chapter 22 you find out how David accomplished this wonderful work. In verse 5: “David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it.” So David made ample preparations before his death.”
And verse 14: “Now behold,with great pains I have prepared for the house of the Lord 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weight, for they are in great quantity; also timber and stone I have prepared, and you may add to them.”
Organizing the house
Here we see what a positive attitude David had. He said ‘I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord’. If you read this passage, your heart will be touched; the one to whom God had said ‘no’, who had apparently been rejected by God, even when he’s getting old he still went on for God. He never said ‘I’m going to retire now because my son will do it all anyway’.
He didn’t waste a single moment of his old age but took pains to prepare everything for the temple. Moreover, if you read on, you find in Chapter 23 that David gathered all the Levites and priests. Then in chapter 24, where you find a large number of priests, who divided them into 24 divisions? David was a good organizer; not only did he gather the priests but he divided them into 24 sections.
At that time, Solomon was still very young and inexperienced. When you come to Chapter 25, you find it was David who provided singers in the temple. David provided everything for the temple before his death, but in his flesh there was a mark saying ‘no, you are not the one’. In chapters 27 and 28, David gathered everyone to Jerusalem. In Chapter 28 verse 9, he said to Solomon: “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind;” And verse 10:“Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be courageous and act.”
So, in front of everyone in Jerusalem David said to Solomon, ‘Be strong and do the work’. Solomon was the one. Now we know where to build the temple but at that time David showed Solomon, in front of everyone in Jerusalem, the blueprint of the house of God. In verse 19 of Chapter 28:
“All this,” said David, “the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me, all the details of this pattern.”
This blueprint was written by the hand of the Lord. If you want to build a house, you need a foundation and you need a blueprint to tell you what the house will look like. Who had that blueprint? God said ‘no’ to David, but God showed him the blueprint. David said, ‘this was written by the hand of God; this is how the house should be built’.
When Solomon built the temple he had to follow the blueprint given by David. If David had given up, who would have known where to lay the foundation or the blueprint? If you read on, this is what happened at the end of David’s life. He prepared everything; the foundation, the materials, the blueprint. He organized the priests and set the singers in the house of the Lord. Everything was almost ready and it only lacked the golden touch of God. When his son was on the throne of David, finally He accomplished what He wanted.
Building up our families
The house of God was built and it was recognized as the temple of Solomon but God knew that 90% of the work was David’s. David, the man who was rejected, the broken vessel. He loved God so much; when he was young and sang ‘I will dwell in the house of God forever’, it was only a dream. One day however, that dream was going to be realized. Even though God said ‘no’ to him, he learned the lesson and never became negative. That’s David.
Now we can see how the house of God should be built. If you want to build the house of God, it is very clear; starting from your family, allow the Lord to work in your family and teach your children. Not just that they should become ‘good citizens’. Today, in this sinful world, there are lots of temptations; to remain completely pure is almost impossible. If you want to help your children to stay far from drugs, far from adultery and fornication, then let God build your family. Let Him establish your house.
Don’t forget that if you have many sons or daughters, they may be used by God to accomplish His will. For that reason, as a father or a mother, you are not just to raise children for your own sake, but you must allow God to work in your family. In this way ‘Solomons’ will be born. It is all by grace; one day, he will reach the mountaintop of his life and God will choose him to accomplish His work.
We know the Lord is coming back very soon. We desire to see the Lord’s coming but the Lord desires a glorious church. Perhaps we’re not ready to be the glorious church, on the earth when the Lord comes, but we’re ready to prepare the materials. What does it mean if we’re preparing the gold, silver and everything else? It means that we prepare our family.
The church needs to rise up and encourage the young people. These are the materials for the building of the church. When they are built up, they will become the seven pillars of the house of God. Wisdom builds the house, but before the building you need the seven pillars. The future of the church is with the young people, so when the church stands up for the Lord, it should prepare the gold and silver and give the materials to the young people. When they go on with the Lord, we should encourage them and give them rewards, since when people are young they need some sort of encouragement, some kind of reward.
If the Lord should delay in coming, who knows if the Lord won’t use one of our sons and daughters, just like Solomon was used, so that God’s will will finally be accomplished. Our problem is that we think we’re indispensable if God’s is going to accomplish his purpose; we think that God has to use us. God’s ways are higher than our ways and the problem is this: how many Davids do we have in our midst?
To all of you fathers and mothers, do you want to invest in these young people? Thank God, that in many places here in Chile, the Lord’s testimony has already been established; however, God wants to do something else and raise up a younger generation for His church. I encourage you to read the whole story of David and your heart will be touched.
The story of David is the story of the building up of the house of God; but David didn’t receive the glory. All the glory belonged to others. Are you willing? May the Lord speak to our hearts.