Friday, June 26, 2009

This Far

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?
-1 Chronicles 17:16b


Tonight as I was reading, I came across this passage in 1 Chronicles. David is King over Israel and has just brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He erects a tent to house the ark and realizes that while he resides in a grand house built of wood, the house of the Lord is merely a tent, a collection of curtains. David declares that he will build a temple for the Lord. That night, however, the prophet Nathan hears a message from God that he is to deliver to King David: God does not want David to build the temple, but rather intends for David’s son, the next king, to do so. The following morning, Nathan delivers the news and the first thing David responds with is verse 16.
Although this story is also found a few chapters earlier in 2 Samuel 7 and I had read it a few months ago, it struck me in a very different way. Being the nostalgic that I am, I was thinking back on where I was a year ago. Getting ready to move away from home and go to college, I was excited to begin the next chapter of my life and start what I assumed was God’s perfect plan for my life. The summer before my junior year of high school I had felt called to ministry as a worship leader, so I declared myself a music major and was preparing myself for college life. I could not have even begun to image all the amazing things I was going to encounter over the next year, however.
If I could sum up my walk with God over the last year, it would simply be that He has showed me over and over again that His plan is infinitely better than my own. Like David, I was so excited to do the work I thought God intended for me. And like David, I was surprised to find that He had something different in mind. Although my plan was filled with the best intentions of serving Him, it had never even crossed my mind that God might have something entirely different. Although I still feel that full-time ministry is something God is calling me into after college, I really can’t say where he is going to lead me. I am only beginning to see Him shaping me and my life into what He intends me to be. I only hope I can be humbled like David when He does show me His plans and responds to them with the praise and worship he deserves. Like David, I sometimes can’t even believe that He would chose me to be his servant.

“This was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; but You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the standard of man of high degree, O Lord God.
What more can David still say to you concerning the honor bestowed on Your servant? For You know your servant”
-verse 17-18

1 comment:

  1. I've heard about a fake ‘Ark of the Covenant.’ Stephan Huller has an academic article coming up which proves that this:

    http://therealmessiahbook.blogspot.com/

    is the original Episcopal throne of Alexandria, mentioned in the Acts of Peter the Patriarch, Origen, Clement and other sources and dated to the first century.

    I read the book. I loved it but I want to know what everyone else thinks? I think its very important but I am not an expert.

    His blog with additional information is

    http://www.stephanhuller.blogspot.com.

    Maybe you can tell me if this for real.

    ReplyDelete