Tuesday, December 22

Author: Isaiah Lewis

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Reflection: v.11, ‘the Lord will make you a house’

I’ve spent a lot of my life trying to find out what God wants from me. I’ve read a lot of books and heard a lot of sermons about it. I even went to school to figure it out. It feels important for two big reasons: 1) because finding out what God cares about tells me something about who God is, and 2) because it seems like doing what God wants me to do will get me closer to being who God wants me to be. But ironically, even if I have good intentions, I end up constraining my ability to be in genuine relationship with God by turning it into a puzzle to solve.

I feel for David when he looks around at his palace and decides that maybe God would like it if he built one for God, too. He’s thinking about what seems good to him in life and then offering it to God. (We can argue that there are probably some ulterior motives involved, but since that’s usually true of us, too, we can put it aside.) David talks it over with his pastor, Nathan, who tells David to take a second look at what God has said and done so far in their relationship. God hasn’t sat still in some temple, orchestrating plans at a distance. God has traveled with God’s people wherever they’ve gone, even before they knew God existed, to love and protect them. Instead of us making a special place where God lives, God has been continually making a home with us. I can trust that I have a relationship with God not because I’ve cracked some theological code or tried to be a good person but because God has come to live with me and with all of God’s people.

Prayer Make a home with us, O God.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *