2 SAMUEL 7 HOW TO EXPERIENCE GODS GREAT PLANS2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Samuel 7 How To Experience Gods Great Plans

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018.

This morning as we look at 2 Samuel chapter 7, we're looking at David as he is now the king over all Israel. He was king over just the southern portion for a time, but now he's been made king. He's been king for a little bit and things have really started to smooth out.

Things have come together. He's been established as the king, and he has an opportunity in the midst of that to reflect on what he wants to do for God. I've titled the message this morning, How to Experience God's Great Plans. And it really kind of goes hand in hand with what we looked at last week in the life of David, which was a dramatically different time and season in David's life.

Right?

came to the point where he said, there is nothing better for me. The only thing I have left to do is I'm just going to make my own plan. I'm going to go live with the Philistines and that will be better for me than what I'm experiencing here in the wilderness. And he came to that conclusion. He decided to pursue his own plans, but he found out through the process of that that

better for him was not going to be found in his own plan. And the course that he went on led him to rock bottom and he figured out, he found out

This isn't the way to find out what's better for me and God's plan for me and how I can experience the great things that I desire to experience. It's not found in coming up with my own plan and responding to my discouragement and despair and chasing after what I think is best. He came to the conclusion at the end, it's found in the Lord.

And so we spent a lot of time last week talking about the fact that there is something better, but not much time talking about how to receive that. And so that's what we want to do this morning as we are here in 2 Samuel 7 to consider, okay, there is something better, but how do we get there? How do we find that? How do we walk in that? It's amazing how time changes things. We see this new season in David's life, and it's completely different now.

than the season we saw last week where he was in despair saying there's nothing better for me but now in chapter 7 we find David at the beginning he's just like kicking back he's just got his arms back like this he's like I'm king

My kingdom is established. I don't have any enemies fighting against me. I have my palace built. I mean, everything is just nice and smooth and going so well. It's an important reminder that when we are in those times of despair, those times of great discouragement, the times of the wilderness, that it feels like forever. It feels like it's never going to end forever.

But it does. And there's new seasons that God has in store for you. But how do we walk in those and experience those? And so how to experience God's great plans. And we'll look at four things as we work our way through the chapter this morning. The first one is found here in verses 1 through 7. And that is desire to do something for God. This is an important starting place. If you want to experience...

The great plans that God has for you, you might think, okay, well, okay, let me get my notebook out. Okay, I need to, okay, so I got to read my Bible. I got to do this. I got to serve in children's ministry. That's what Pastor Jordan told me. And I got to, you know, do a host thing at light the night. And then I can do my house. And then, you know, I do all these things so that I can experience God's great plan. And there's this idea that, like, I can get what I want, right?

doing something for me or by chasing after. If I want a good career, I need to work hard and chase after. If I want a good family, then I need to focus on that. And that's how I'm going to experience the great plans that God has for me. And we can, in our minds, chase after all of these things when we think about how to experience God's great plans. But it's important to step back and take a look at what David did here. And

It's a good example for us to follow. Starting again in verse 1, it says, Now it came to pass, when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from his enemies all around, that 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.

Where we find David here is at this place where he's established and it's a time of peace. There is rest. His enemies are not attacking. He's got a nice palace built and he's hanging out in that palace with the prophet Nathan. And he's just like enjoying life. He's just like in this relaxed place. But at the same time, he's looking at the tabernacle.

We saw earlier in chapter 6 that David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. The place where God said, I'm going to meet with the people and my presence is going to dwell there above the Ark of

That place, God's presence, such an important piece of the tabernacle, was hanging out in just this little tent that David had set up for it there in Jerusalem. And David's looking at his paneled walls and his fancy home and this, you know, amazing great palace that he has. And he's looking over at God's house. And he's thinking, wow, it's just a tent. God deserves so much more.

It's battered and old. It's affected by the weather. I'd like to maybe do something to spruce up the house of God where the presence of God is. I'd like to do something for the Lord in that way. Pastor David Guzik says it this way. David's heart was filled with this question. What can I do for God? He was so filled with gratitude and concern for God's glory that he wanted to do something special for God.

At this point in his life, he's thinking about, man, God's done so much for me. What can I do? I just want to bless God. I just want to honor God. I just want to glorify God. And Nathan the prophet, as he's hanging out with David, he kind of catches on like, oh, yeah, that sounds like a good direction. I mean, David doesn't lay out the plans completely, but he just states kind of the obvious. I have a house, and God lives in a tent. And Nathan says, yeah, I like the direction you're heading, David. That's a good idea. Run with it.

Well, of course, the Lord speaks to Nathan that night in verse 4. 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 I've moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle.

Here God responds to David's desire through the prophet Nathan. And God's desire or God's response is basically, "'Thank you, David. Good job having it on your heart, but no thanks.'"

Thank you, but no thank you. Good job in that you wanted to do something for me. But you know, the plan that you have, it's not actually the best plan. I have something better planned out. And so God responds and says, look, have I ever told anybody to build me a house?

Now, not in a negative way, and I want to make sure that that's clear, that God is saying no to this, but not as punishment. David, you know, you're not a good guy. I don't want you to, you know, have any part of this. It was not like a scolding or a punishment or anything like that, but

It was that God had a better plan in store for David. Solomon puts it this way in 1 Kings 8 as he's recounting this that happened in David's life. He says,

Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Good job, David, that you wanted to do that, that it was your desire to do that, that you had it in your heart to do that. Even if ultimately I have a different plan, you get credit, you get reward for having that desire in your heart.

And here what we see God saying in this answer, in this response, again, it's not a scolding like, I've never told anybody. Why would you ever think that? That's not what God's saying. God's saying, look, this is really cool because I've not commanded this. I've not told anybody to do this. David, you are wanting to go above and beyond what I've required and asked for.

Good job that you have had that upon your heart. You know, sometimes we are so caught up with trying to do as little as possible for God, but still be pleasing to God, right? Or like get away with as much as we can, you know, but still not fall out of God's favor. And sometimes we can kind of pursue the boundaries that way. But David's on the other side saying, not that God's commanded something or that I have to do something, but

But even more than what God has commanded and required, I just want to bless God in some special way. I just want to serve God and honor God in some way. He desired to do something for God. This is a good place for us to start. If you want to experience God's great plans for your life, spend some time. Think about the place where you are and what God has done in your life up to this point.

Begin to wonder, begin to consider, begin to pray. How can I do something for God? Something above, not something specific that is commanded necessarily, but something creative that's for me and the Lord, this is important. And maybe only the me and the Lord know about it, but I just, I want to do something for the Lord, for God. Desire to do something for God. This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 16, verse 25.

When he says, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Jesus is saying, look, if you work really hard to try to live the life that you want for yourself, you're going to end up losing your life. You're trying real hard to save your life, but you're not going to obtain what it is that you're pursuing with your plans, with, you know, what you're chasing after in your ideas, right?

You're not going to obtain salvation that way. You're not going to obtain the blessings of life that way. You're not going to obtain life that way. In order for you to experience God's great plans, you have to lose your life. You have to lay down and say, okay, this is what I would like for my life. This is what I would desire. This is my plans. I want to build the temple. And God might come back and say, yeah, thank you. It's a good idea that, you know, it's on your heart. I'm glad it's on your heart, but that's not what I want for you.

Now, if David responded like I do sometimes, it'd be like, well, I don't care, Lord. It's what I want. I promise you're going to be blessed. Let me show you. I'll do it anyways. But we find that David doesn't do that. God says, I've got a better plan. And we'll see David walk then in that new plan that God reveals. We need to start here, desiring to do something for God, being willing to lay down our life, being willing to lay down our goals, our desires, our pursuits, our plans, and

And take up what the Lord wants for us. But it starts with us kind of getting out of our own way. Lord, I want to do something for you. And as you begin to do that, God will begin to reveal what it is that he wants to do in your life. And that brings us to point number two as we look at verses 8 through 17. Point number two is discover God's desire to do something greater for you. Here's David wanting to do something just special for God. And God says, you know what?

I have something even greater that I'm going to do for you. Check out verse 8 through 11. It says,

Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more, nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore as previously, since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also, the Lord tells you that he will make you a house.

David says, I want to build God a house. And God says, I appreciate that, but I have something better in store. I'm going to build you a house, David. You're not going to build me a house. I'm going to build you a house. As we start, first of all, with the desire to do something for God, here's what may happen. God may come back and say, that's a good desire, and that is my plan. Go for it.

And as you go for it and you walk in that desire that you had and seek to bless God and serve God in that way, here's what you can count on. What you thought you were doing for God turns out to be a greater blessing

to you than you would have ever imagined that happens many times as we like go on a mission trip or go to pray for somebody or serve the lord in some way and we think man this is going to be great you know i'm going to go serve the lord and they're going to be so blessed and just you know it's going to be awesome but then you go and in the process of doing that

You're like, man, I'm so blessed. I mean, I went to pray for this person in the hospital and they ministered to me. Like, how is that? And it's amazing how God can take those things that you want to do for him when they're part of his plan and he can make them a greater blessing for you than you would have thought or imagined beforehand. And so you desire to do something. If God says yes, oh, you do it. It's going to be a great blessing to you.

Sometimes God will also say, no, thank you. Good that it was in your heart. Good job that you desired to go on the mission field. But, you know, I'm going to send somebody else and you're going to have a different role. Good job wanting to serve in that capacity. Good job wanting to, you know, minister to that person. Good job wanting to have this or have that. Good job in the desire. But the Lord will begin to then reveal through that, here's what I do have in store for you.

And so you can rest assured that sometimes when God says yes, it's going to be a greater blessing for you. And the other times when God says no, it's because God has something better in mind. When God says no, it's because always, every time, when God says no to you, it's because he has something better in mind. Pastor Alan Redpath puts it this way. Although there is heaven's denial of his great resolve, there is also heaven's recognition of the desire in David's heart.

how wonderfully God made it up to David, and how wonderfully he makes it up to us when he says no. When God tells us no, we can immediately think, you know, God's angry with us, or it's because of this, or some kind of punishment thing. But I would encourage you to reflect on the reality that God wants to do great things in your life. When he says no, it's because he wants to do something different that's better, because he knows better.

Because his plans are greater. And we're not going to get into all of the details here for God's plans for David. But here's a quick snapshot, quick bullet points about what God says here in these verses. First of all, God says, I'm going to appoint a place for Israel. David, through you, through your reign, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to establish Israel in a way that they've never been established before.

Up to this point, they've been wandering in the wilderness. They were led into the promised land and they conquered the promised land. But then as you look at the time of Judges, they were like losing land, gaining it back and under oppression and set free and, you know, back and forth, back and forth. They were not established. Even under King Saul, they started to get established. And then the Philistines just like rocked them and they lost so much land. But David, under you, I'm appointing a place for Israel now.

Like I never have before in their history. And you're going to be a big part of establishing this nation here in this land. He says, God, David, God says to David, I'm going to make you a house there in verse 11. Not only are you going to be a big part of establishing this nation, but I'm going to establish you within the nation. When God says he's going to make David a house, he's not talking about building him a structure, but he's talking about building him a legacy.

for decades to come, for centuries to come, for millennia to come, we look back to David and the legacy that was left and the way that the Lord established his house, the line of David. It's through the line of David that Jesus the Messiah is brought to the people of Israel and salvation is brought to all of humanity. It's through the line of David. It's his house that God uses to do so many great things.

Well, God goes on to tell him that Solomon is going to build the house. So even though God never required it or demanded it or asked for it, God says, you know, it is a good idea. I like the idea. Let's build a temple. You're not going to do it. I have better plans for you, but I am going to allow your son to build the house. And so Solomon, as we continue to read through, we'll see that Solomon will build the temple, an amazing temple in Jerusalem.

according to the plans and the materials that David had supplied and provided for him. Well, then finally in verse 16, God says, I'm going to establish your house and your kingdom forever. It's not going to just last, you know, for a little bit. If you think about who he just followed, right? He came after King Saul. Saul's son didn't take the throne. He did for a little bit, but it didn't last. David, it's going to be different.

Your house, your kingdom, it's going to be established. Your son's going to be on the throne and his son is going to be on the throne. And all the way down through the Messiah, he, Jesus sits on the throne of David when he comes to rule and to reign. God says, I like that it was in your heart, David. Good job that it was in your heart. You had a good desire, but I have something better in store for you. And so here's what I'm going to do for you.

As we think about these plans that God has for David, I would also encourage you that God has great plans for you, greater than what you have in mind for your life.

Greater than what you can imagine, greater than what you, you know, would plan out and think of. God has greater plans for you. And so promises that he's given to you. And just to highlight a couple, of course, we can't go through very many of these, but 1 Corinthians chapter 15, God promises you, a believer in Jesus Christ, a new and glorified body. Paul says, I'm going to tell you a mystery. We're not all going to sleep. We're not all going to die, but we all shall be changed.

That is, we're all going to be clothing or removing our mortality and clothing ourselves with immortality. The corruptible must put on incorruption, Paul says. That there's going to be something new that is lasting and dynamic that God has in store for you in a new and glorified body. That is a promise that God has for you. He also has promised an incorruptible inheritance in 1 Peter 1.

That is something that's reserved for you that cannot decay. It cannot decompose. It cannot be corrupted. It is lasting. It is for sure. It is guaranteed and it will last for all of eternity. There's a promise in 1 John 3 and Romans 8, 29 and other places that you will become like Jesus. Now this one may be a hard promise to believe sometimes because then you look in the mirror and you go, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I'm not very much like Jesus. I don't have his love. I don't have his peace. I don't have his joy. I don't have his character. I don't treat people like he treats people. I don't drive like Jesus would drive. You know, what would Jesus do? You know, the opposite of what I do. That's what we could see in the mirror, perhaps. But God has given us this promise. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God, the Apostle John says.

It's not now been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. There's a promise that you have from God, a greater plan that he has in store for you, and it's greater than whatever you could come up with. You know, you could think about the character that you'd like to have, the legacy that you'd like to have. You could think about, you know, the quality of person that you would like to be, and whatever you come up with in your plan, in your mind, it's inferior. It's inferior.

to what God has in store for you. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 3 that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think. And you might be able to think and imagine quite a bit, but God's plans for you are even greater. Now you might notice as you look at these things, well, you know, most of these things we're talking about looking ahead to eternity. What about like for this life? What about like for right now?

And God does have great things in store for you right now in this life also. And he has plans for you in this life. But most of God's promises and God's plans are for the next life. And sometimes we get distracted by this life and our focus. We get too focused here and now. And we forget about the importance of eternity and what God has in store for us. I would point out to you, think about these promises that God gave to David, right?

These promises are all fulfilled and all to take place after David is gone. In verse 12, it says, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom.

David, I'm going to do all of these things for you. You're not going to see it in this life. I'm going to establish your legacy. You're going to see very little of that. I'm going to establish your kingdom. You're going to see very little of that. Solomon's going to build the temple. You're not going to see that at all. I'm going to do all of these things, and you're an instrumental part, and you're going to be blessed by it, but you also are not going to see it immediately.

And this is true for our lives. And it's an important reminder of how we often get upside down in our thinking and in our perspective. And we get so focused on this life. When I talk about how to experience God's great plans, immediately we can begin to think about, you know, retirement years. We can begin to think about our career. We can begin to think about things right here, right now, in the next few years or whatever. We can easily just focus on that and we can work hard to try to get that done.

But that's a small piece. We only live here, you know, for a hundred years or less. But we spend the rest of eternity experiencing God's great plans for us. It's a good reminder to have our focus adjusted and our perspective to include the eternity that God has in store for us. God does have great things in store for you in this life also.

We begin to discover those things, first of all, as we desire to do something for God. We need to come back to that. Lord, I want to do something for you. I'm not just, you know, trying to get what I want out of life. But Lord, you've been good to me. I want to do something for you. And in the process of that, God will begin to reveal and uncover. You'll discover through your time with God. Perhaps you need to hang out with some friends like Nathan the prophet. And in the process of that, as you're spending time in the word,

God will begin to show and reveal, this is what I want to do in your life. This is what we are working towards. Well, moving on to the third point, we're going to look at verses 18 through 24. Point number three is accept God's great grace toward you. As you discover all the great things that God desires for you and wants to work out in your life, there is going to be a need for you to accept the grace of God in your life.

Sometimes this can be a challenge, but you need to learn to accept God's goodness towards you that you don't deserve. Verse 18, then King David went in and sat before the Lord and he said, who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God. And you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? As David said,

Here's this message back from the Lord. God says, I'm not going to let you build my house, but instead I'm going to build you a house, David. And David goes and he sits before the Lord and he says, who am I? David here is recognizing his complete and utter unworthiness of all that God has promised to him. Who am I? I don't deserve this, God. I haven't earned this.

These promises, I haven't earned this plan that you have. I haven't worked hard enough for this. I haven't, you know, recovered enough for this. I haven't earned this. Who am I and who is my house? But notice what he says at the end of verse 18, that you've brought me this far. David's not even thinking about the things to come yet. He's like, just thinking about just this far, up to this point in my life. The things that you've done for me, God, I am so unworthy of it. I'm undeserving. This is what grace is all about.

It's God's goodness towards us that we do not deserve and could never earn. And this is the place where David's at. God, you've been so good to me. Now, this is interesting to think about because, again, as we saw last week, David went through some really difficult times in the wilderness and trying things out on his own and chasing after these other things. And even though he went through all of that,

He's able to, at this point, say, up to this point in my life, including those wilderness years, Lord, you've been so good to me, well above and beyond what I could ever deserve or earn. It's important to remember when we're in the times of wilderness, because we don't necessarily feel that way. You know, we're going through the difficulty. But there will come the times where we'll be able to stop and reflect and just in gratitude look back and say, Lord, you've been so good to me. I don't deserve it.

And if you're having trouble having that perspective, then just look back to the cross and appreciate what it is that Christ did for you in dying upon the cross. I mean, that's where it all starts for us. If the Lord did nothing else for us for the rest of our lives, that would be enough for us to sit like David and say, who am I, Lord God, that you've brought me this far? You've done so much for me.

But God is so gracious and merciful. He doesn't just save us. He does do so much more. And David here says, you've done so much already, and now you're promising even this crazy amount more that I would have never thought of. He says in verse 19, he says, this was a small thing in your sight, oh Lord God. I'm looking at this and like, you've done so much in my life, God. And God looks and says, that's a small thing. Wait till you see what I have next for you. This is the perspective that we need to have.

The grace of God towards us is incredible. He's done good things for you. He's brought you this far. But it may feel big to you. Hopefully it does. Because we need to be in that place of gratitude and appreciation for what God has done. But at the same time, recognizing it's so small. It's so small compared to what God wants to continue to do for you. But you have to accept the grace of God.

You can't try to earn these things. You can't try to deserve these things. Notice what David says in verse 21. For your word's sake and according to your own heart, you've done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore, you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, nor is there any other God beside you according to all that we have heard with our ears. David says, for your sake, you've done this

for your own sake. Because you love us, you've made us your people. Because you love me, you've worked this way in my life. Therefore, you are great, God. David doesn't say, I'm great. That's why you've worked this way in my life. And if we are approaching God with that heart, we're completely backwards. You're great, God. And everything that happens in my life, all the goodness that I experience, all the blessings that I experience, it is because God is good. It's because of God's grace towards us.

The expert on the grace of God, Pastor Chuck Smith, said this, God's grace is never a reward for your goodness or righteousness. Not because you're worthy, not because you're especially nice or especially good, never. It's just because he loves you. It's just the hardest thing to do, to just accept grace gracefully. Boy, we want to earn it. We want to deserve it.

But like David, we need to come to the place as we see those promises of God, as he reveals what he wants to do, where we come and sit before God and just say, I receive your grace. This is what you said, God. I don't deserve it. I'm so unworthy, but I receive it. I accept it. It can be hard to do, but we need to do it. It starts with salvation. We can't earn our salvation. We can't work and deserve it. We just have to just sit and receive.

the goodness that God wants to do in your life. Receive it. Accept it. Don't try to earn it. Don't try to deserve it. Let God bestow his grace upon you. Well, finishing it up in verses 25 through 29, we get point number four, and that is embrace God's greater plan. Embrace God's greater plan. Here we get to participate in the plan of God. In verse 25, it says, this is David continuing to pray. He says, now, oh Lord God,

The word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as you have said. So let your name be magnified forever, saying, the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel. And let the house of your servant David be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to your servant, saying, I will build you a house.

Therefore, your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. As David sits there before the Lord, he accepts the grace of God, and then he takes the promise that God has given, and he turns it into a prayer. Now, this is quite a bold prayer if you don't have the promise before it, right? David goes before the Lord, Lord, I want you to establish my house forever. Amen.

Let my kingdom, you know, reign. Let my children be on the throne for all of eternity. Let it be all about me, you know, like establish me in that way. I mean, that'd be a very bold and arrogant and prideful prayer if it wasn't for the promise. But David takes this promise and

Takes what God has said, and it's still a bold thing to pray, but it's on the basis of God's word. We might feel like, ah, I can't pray that. But on the basis of what God has said he wants to do, he will do for you, you take that promise and you turn it into a prayer, and you get to participate in God's plan in that way. He says at the end of verse 27, therefore, your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. I wouldn't normally pray this. Yeah.

But this is what you said. And so this is what I'm going to pray for. I'm going to pray, God, that you would do what it is that you declared you would do. Charles Spurgeon on this point says this, nothing pleases God better than to see his promises put in circulation. He loves to see his children bring them up to him and say, Lord, do as thou hast said. And let me tell you that it glorifies God to use his promises.

Nothing pleases God better than for you to bring to God and say, God, you said that I was going to be more like Jesus. I'm looking in the mirror and I don't see that. I'm looking at this past week and I'm seeing the devastation and the wreckage that I left behind. And so, Lord, I'm coming to you and you promised, Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, you would be faithful to complete the work that you began in me. And so, Lord, I'm asking you to complete that work because you said you would do it.

And for us to take the word of God, to take the promises of God and turn them around and bring them to him as prayer is something that pleases God. Puts him into circulation. You know, you have that $20 bill. It's a promissory note. It's a promise. It equals this value. And you go to the store and you lay down your $20 and you say, give me my Dr. Pepper. I promise this has value. Give me my Dr. Pepper.

In the same way, we cash in the promises of God and say, God, this is your promise. Give me my Dr. Pepper. You said you would work in my life. You said you will do these things. You said you will work in this way. God, I'm taking you at your word. I believe that you will do these things. And so I'm asking you to do what you said you would do. This pleases God. Embrace God's plan. And you get to participate in that plan of God.

By praying, by asking. And it feels bold, perhaps, to ask some of those things. Because God has promised some crazy, insane, incredible things. Maybe it feels too bold to ask. But God has said it. He's declared it. Yeah, there are some things that maybe you feel uncomfortable asking for them because you shouldn't ask for them. Don't just, you know, ask for whatever you want. But on the authority of what God has promised, you can ask with boldness.

Like the author of Hebrews says, we can approach the throne of grace with boldness, without hesitation, because God's promised, I want you to come in. I've opened the way for you. You're cleansed and you're washed and you can come before God no matter what condition you're in, no matter how far you've run from God, you can come before God and ask for forgiveness, for cleansing. You can ask for God to fulfill his word. Embrace God's greater plan.

In verse 28, he says, and now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this goodness to your servant. Now, therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant. May it continue before you forever. For you, O Lord God, have spoken it, and with your blessing, let the house of your servant be blessed forever. He continues on with this bold prayer in response to the promise of God. David got to go on beyond this also. It wasn't just prayer.

prayer that David did in response to these promises. David went on to embrace the plan of God with his actions as well. Later on as he's handing the baton off to his son Solomon and telling him about these things, he tells Solomon in 1 Chronicles 22, verse 14, he says,

David says, Solomon, here's what the Lord told me. You're going to build the house. And so here's what I've done. First of all, I prayed and asked God to do it because he told me he would do it. So I prayed and asked him to do it. But then also I got involved and I worked hard. Notice he says, I've taken much trouble and David fought wars.

to beat back the enemies, to establish peace so that Solomon could build the temple. He conquered kingdoms so that he could get the materials that were provided by the Lord in that way for the house that was to be built. He worked hard for the rest of his life to help be part of the plan of God. Again, it wasn't that God couldn't do it without him or anything. He just wanted to participate. He believed God enough to take God's promises and then act on them.

And here we have such a great example of embracing God's greater plan. It wasn't David's original plan. And again, David could have tried to build the temple anyways, but it wouldn't have gone very far. It wouldn't have gone very well. Instead, he embraced. Okay, God, you don't want me to build the temple. You want my son to build it. Okay, I'm going to do everything I can to help him and prepare him for that. How do we get to experience God's great plans? David did. It started with his desire to do something for God.

Just a simple desire, just like, hey, here I am in this nice house and the Ark of the Covenant's there in this, you know, old beat-up tent. I'd like to do something for God. I'd like to honor him and bless him in some way. And as he began to allow his heart to be stirred in that direction, as he began to contemplate what he could do for God, God then began to reveal what he wanted to do for David. And as you begin to think about what you can do for God, God will begin to reveal and you'll begin to discover something

And maybe you thought, hey, this is a great idea. God's in love with it. And then God says, no, I don't like that idea so much. I have something better in store. I have a better plan. Not no, don't do anything. Go sit in the corner. But here's something better for you. And even when God says yes, he's got more in store in that plan than we could have thought of ourselves. We can't earn this work from God. We can just accept it. It's grace. It's God's goodness towards us that we don't deserve. And so let's embrace it.

Stop trying to work to earn God's favor. Stop trying to, you know, please God by doing so much, but do so much because you love God and just want to honor him and bless him. And in the process of that, God is going to show you, you thought you were coming up with a good plan to bless me, but I have greater plans to bless you exceedingly abundantly above all that you could ask or think.

And as God speaks those things to you, as he reveals those things through his word, or perhaps personally to you prophetically, embrace them. Pray for them with great boldness and then live your life in anticipation of those promises of God being fulfilled. That's how we get to experience God's great plans. Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us.

And Lord, wherever we might be, if it is that time in the wilderness like David of discouragement and depression and scrambling and just trying to figure out how to survive, or if we're more like David in chapter 7 where things are established and settled and at peace, Lord, I pray that you would help us in either case to not look to our own plans and resources, to not be so caught up with saving our life that we lose it, but Lord, that we would look to you and think,

How can we serve you? Lord, how can we honor you in this life and in the things that we do? And I pray, God, as we stir up our hearts towards you and think about the blessings that you've given to us and the gratitude that we have for you, Lord, I pray that you would reveal what it is that you want to do in our lives. I pray that you'd help us to discover those things, help us to search the scriptures, help us to spend time with your people, help us to hear from you.

The promises that you have given and desire to give. Lord, that we might accept what it is that you want to do. By your grace, not because of us, but because of you. And Lord, I pray that then you would help us to embrace those promises. To live according to them and for the rest of our lives to even work hard and go to great trouble. Lord, to live out the truth that you have revealed and the promises that you've given. Thank you, God, that we have this opportunity to be part of

of the plan that you have and the work that you're doing. Thank you, God, for your grace towards us. Help us to walk in it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.