Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, Jesus, and perhaps we could throw in each of us, too, for good measure. Besides trusting in God, what did they all have in common in their prayer life with God?
Let me give you a little bit more information to go on.
- Abraham, when he wanted God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah ;
- Moses, when he wanted to see God's face at Mt. Sinai ;
- David, when he wanted to build the temple in Jerusalem ;
- Paul, when he thought he could preach the gospel better if the ailments that were troubling him were taken away;
- and finally the Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane , when He asked His Father to take the cup of suffering from Him.
In all their varying circumstances, what did they have in common?
God told them “No!” every one of them. None received what he asked for. What about you? Do you receive what you ask of God?
Often we do. In fact, I would think that most of the time we receive from God that which we ask. But we rarely mark those occasions because they happen all the time. His blessings to us are so common, so frequent, and so generous that the psalmist said our “cup overflows.” God hears our needs and answers our requests so often that we don't even stop to think about it.
But it's different when He says, “No!” isn't it? Few times as that might be, those are the times we remember. “Why didn't God do this or that for me?” “Why didn't He heal me?” “Why didn't He take the hurt away?” “Can't He see that this would be good for us?” We don't usually question the times He answers our requests, nor do we complain about the good things we get daily. It's the things we don't get that bother us.
So often we can be like little children opening gifts at Christmas. One minute they're eager to open all the packages that are before them, but the next they gripe about the one thing they didn't get.
Similarly, how do we take it when things don't go the way we would like them to go? Or, what happens when God says “No!”
I. Though at first He seems to deprive us…
That's pretty much the situation that we have in our text. Let's get the whole picture first. By this time in David's life, about 1000 years before Jesus is born, things had pretty much settled down. Saul had taken himself out of the way by committing suicide; the land had been secured from Israel's enemies; God had established David as the new king of Israel; Jerusalem had been taken from the Jebusites and was being built into the capital city; a beautiful palace of fine wood was constructed for David by skilled carpenters from Lebanon (5:6ff); and God blessed David with many wives and children to fill that home with happiness. Things were going well in David's life. And David gratefully recognized it.
So it was that he called the prophet Nathan to him one day and said, “The Lord has given me rest from all my enemies around me. And here I am living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in the tabernacle. I want to build a fine house for the Lord in which He can dwell among us. It is not right that I live in such comfort and He dwells in a tent.” It seemed like a good plan, a humble undertaking, and a project that would bring glory to God. Even David's pastor, Nathan, thought it was good. So he said, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it for the Lord. And He will be with you.” But Nathan spoke too soon and on his own.
That night God came to His prophet and said, “Go back to David and tell my good friend and servant, ‘Do you really think you're the one to build the temple, a house on earth for me to dwell in? I haven't dwelt in one place among Israel for over 400 years, ever since I took them out of their slavery in Egypt . All that time I've dwelt among them in a tent that traveled from one place to another. I never asked nor commanded any of the judges or rulers who preceded you to build me a permanent temple. I don't want you to do this. I graciously took you from being a lowly shepherd boy leading sheep and placed you as a king to rule over my people Israel . I've gone with you wherever you went. I've overcome your enemies for you. And I still have many other blessings in store that will come your way. But no ! – you are not to build me a house.'”
These couldn't have been easy words for Nathan to pass on or for David to hear. I wonder how he felt when he first heard them! But there was no mistaking what God was saying. God said “No!” It didn't fit God's plan.
Something so good, something so right, something so honorable, something to give back to God in gratitude for all the things received, and God said, “ No!” It must have seemed at first that God was depriving David of an opportunity to serve Him better.
The Apostle Paul felt a similar way when he asked God to take “the thorn in his flesh” from him. It was some illness, some physical deficiency, or some bodily defect that Paul thought kept him from preaching the Gospel more effectively. So he prayed over and over for the Lord to heal him. And God said “No.”
Jesus experienced a similar answer on the night of His betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane , when He asked the Father to find another way for Him to carry out the work of salvation. If there were another way that He could save the world from sin than by suffering and dying on a cross, He would like that. God said “No.”
And what about you and me, dear friends - what happens when it seems to our good, humble, even grateful way of thinking, that it would be best for us to do this or that for God and His kingdom, or that we could do more for Him if He took care of this or that difficult thing in our lives, and He says “No !”? What do we think? Some seem to act as though God is depriving them. Perhaps He is, but He also has His purposes. As a faithful and gracious God those purposes are always good. In the end He designs things to give us even more. Sadly, in our human weakness and sinful pride we can't see it. At such times, dear friend, take the lead of the Lord Jesus, Paul, and even David here, saying, “Lord, You know all things. You know what's best. Your will be done.”
II. In the end He designs things to give us even more.
David didn't really say that here, but he came very close to it when he said in the words right after our text, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in Your sight, O Sovereign Lord, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant.” And then he simply marveled at God's grace and promises by asking, “Is this Your usual way of dealing with man?”
David was astounded at God. What he was astounded with is this. No, God would not have David build Him a house to live in; that would fall to David's son Solomon. And what an even more glorious temple Solomon would build. But the thing that struck David the most was God's promise to build a house for him, not a temporal house made of brick or stone or wood, but a house that would last forever that would be established by one of David's descendents. God promised, “I will raise up an offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish His kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will provide a place for my people Israel so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. The wicked will no longer oppress them. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.”
Well, such promises could never be kept here on a sinful earth for there will never be perfect peace here. There will always be wicked ones going about to destroy it for God's people who believe in Him. Besides that, things do not last here forever. Even David's family did not rule over the nation of Israel forever. They're gone.
But there is One who came from David's family that has built a new and permanent home where God will dwell with His people forever. That One is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a prophecy concerning His first coming and the eternal blessings that God would give David and all others who believe in Him.
You heard about the fulfillment of this in the Gospel lesson today when the angel came to announce Jesus' birth. One thousand years later he said to Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end.”
God may have said “ No” to David in one area of his life, but look what else He had in mind. God sometimes closes one door that He might open another, much more needed by us. That's the wonderful thing about God's “No's.” Though at first they may appear to deprive us of some joy, in the end they are designed to give us much more .
How wrong then for us to ever think we know better than God! How foolish of us to ever second-guess the Lord. And how wonderful that David believed and trusted God to do what was best, for now David's name lives on even more in David's Son who was born our Savior. As God's mysterious yet gracious plan was carried out in that stable in Bethlehem , we rejoice to know that through the Christ child a more permanent home has been built for us above. And if God builds the house, you can be sure it will last.
So, dear friend, next time when God says “No,” though at first He seem to deprive you , in the end He designs things to give you even more . God grant it in our lives of faith for Jesus' sake. Amen.