Hey folks. Didn't take me long before one went in late. In my defense I've been youthing all evening and have made sure that Wayne received plenty of put downs :) Onto business then!
Today’s readings
2 Samuel 7:1-8:18
Acts 2:22-47
Proverbs 14:5-14
So David's hearing the prophet Nathan's vision of God's message and it's very easy to think that this promise of Solomon has been written after the event. Well whilst this might be the case I wonder why the authors then left in the promise that David's family would rule for generations to come which just didn't happen as we will see. I can totally believe that God will tell us messages and we will glimpse His plans but that we don't get the whole picture or our interpretation plays more into our dreams or what we want to hear than what the message really is. So how can we be sure that God's will really is what we're hearing or enacting? I think that here we see Nathan called by God but he then rushes to David. Instead it would seem that we get the reassurance and the certainty of faith through sitting with God and praying ardently to Him. In fact David then spends time in prayer after hearing this message thanking and praising God for His faithfulness and then requesting that the promises Nathan brought could be made true. Interesting to me anyway that David doesn't take the prophecy at face value but instead seeks God himself.
It'd be easy to say that God blesses David immediately with military victories but I don't think that we have to take that as a definite blessing. Personally I can see the authors of 2 Samuel wanting to show how David's victories show God's favour with him but then to me God doesn't bless people so that others die. However, David's victories show that he had confidence and talent and was responsible to the role he had been put into.
Into the New Testament we decamp and we have Peter spreading the gospel for the first time. Doesn't it sound exciting stuff? I think we need to be more enthusiastic when we talk about Jesus' saving power! But the thing that really sticks out to me is how Peter references David. So he points out that David knew his ancestors would come after him and only one of them would be the Messiah. I think this is a great example of how we ought to realise that at no point do our lives stop being something God can work with and something that we should use for God. David was king and had won if you like, at the game of life but here he keeps focused on God's plan for his life and his place in humanity's eventual salvation. Keeping our eyes off our own stuff and on God's seems to be today's theme.
Finally our Proverbs have some cracking gems as usual. Verse 6, 9 and 10 all speak to me and I'd encourage you to pick out wisdom from these passages and really seek whether it applies in your life and in how God wants to use you.
And that's your lot for today. Yesterday's song is here. As always, let me know what you think or if there's anything you think I'm missing. Or even just let me know you've started reading again,
Jon
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