And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,” and the house of your servant David will be established before you. – 2 Samuel 7:25-26 ESV 2 Samuel 7:18-29
David trusted God. He took Him at His word. He believed that whatever God had promised, He would fulfill. This was a characteristic of God that he had been taught since he was a child. He would have been familiar with Numbers 23:19 where it states, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” And there is a strong possibility that David was familiar with the words his mentor, Samuel, had uttered to King Saul on the day that God told him that he was taking the kingdom away from him and giving it to another. “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret” (1 Samuel 15:29 ESV). God had made a promise to David. He had sworn to place a descendant of David on the throne and to establish his throne forever. And David was willing to believe what God had told him. Over in the book of Hebrews, we are told that God keeps His covenants. “God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:17-18 NLT). God had given his promise to Abraham that through one of his descendants, the nations of the earth would be blessed. And Abraham believed God. He trusted Him. He also took God at His Word. And it was that faith in God and His promise that was accounted to Abraham as righteousness. Over in Hebrews chapter 11, there is a list of great men and women of faith from the Old Testament who placed their faith in God. And it tells us “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it” (Hebrews 11:13 NLT). Abraham never saw all the descendants God had promised. He never once owned an acre of property within the boundaries of Canaan, the land God had promised. It was by faith that Joseph believed the people of Israel would one day leave the land of Egypt, even though he never lived to see that day. Over 400 years later, it was by faith that Moses led the people out of the land of Egypt, not fearing the Pharaoh, but also not knowing exactly where he was leading them. It was by faith the people of Israel marched seven times around the walls of Jericho, not knowing exactly how God's somewhat unconventional battle plan was going to work out. God had spoken and they trusted Him.
It's amazing what happens when we trust God, when we take Him at His word. The problem is that obedience to God's word and acceptance of His promises always requires faith. We don't always know how things are going to work out. When God told Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, Abraham had no way of knowing how that was going to happen. After all, he was old and his wife was barren. When God told David that he would have a descendant who would reign in Jerusalem forever, he had no idea what that meant or how it was going to take place. But he determined to take God at His word. His only response was to ask God to confirm His word. He just asked God to bring it all about – in whatever way He might see fit. No stipulations or requirements. No helpful advice or conditions. He knew that whatever God had in mind would be far better than anything he could dream up. And his ultimate desire was that God would receive glory. “And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel.’” Is God's glory our greatest desire? Is our faithful acceptance of His word and patient waiting for its fulfillment more important to us than getting our own way? God has promised us peace, joy, contentment, His presence and provision, and not to mention eternal life. But for some of us, that doesn't seem to be good enough. We get frustrated because we don't seem to be enjoying the peace we were expecting. We aren't experiencing joy, at least not according to our definition. We lack contentment. We fail to sense God's presence, and we tend to provide for ourselves, refusing to wait on Him. And if the truth be told, for a lot of us, eternal life is not worth waiting for. So we try to treat this world as if it is all there is. We seek everything here and now, refusing to wait on God's promise of the hereafter. But as the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). God has spoken. But are we listening? God has promised, But do we believe Him? He doesn't lie. He never fails to keep His word. He always knows what is best. So when will we learn to trust Him?