You are His ONE True Love

David felt that God needed a new house.  He couldn’t get past the fact that he was living in grandeur and the God of the universe had been relegated, yet again, to the pitched tent that was carted around the desert for 40 years.  A tent that had definitely seen better days.

See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.  2 Samuel 7:2b

Often times, like David, I feel like I know what God is looking for from me.   Sometimes I get it into my head that my next idea fits exactly in the perfectness of His plan.

These days we have so much vying for our attention: social media and the latest craze move at a blazing speed.  Just when we think we’ve got the latest technology to make our lives better, faster and more efficient, the next new thing hits the market.

With all of the noise it’s easy to understand how our day to day gets loud too – and sometimes it all just gets really confusing.  So we make assumptions and speculations and try and fit our plans around what we think God is doing or should be doing.

David’s motives for building the House of the Lord were good.  David wanted God to have a place of honor – a testament to God’s greatness.

I do the same.  I do it on my blog, in my interactions with my community, in my writing, in my everyday; I want to plan and build in hopes of coming close to making my life, my journey respectable for the Creator.

Because really…isn’t that what God wants from us?

Listen to His answer.

In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges… saying ‘Why have you not built me a house?  2 Samuel 7:7

The weight of His response to David’s gesture rocks me to my core.  God is so NOT looking for spectacular from me. He’s not looking for the next “big thing.”

Instead?  He’s seeking me.  Just like He sought the once shepherd-boy David.

I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep that you should be prince over my people Israel… I will make for you a great name. 2 Samuel 7:8-9

There would be a temple, God’s got plans for it, but David wasn’t the one who was going to build it.

What God wanted from David is his heart.

Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make [YOU] a house.  2 Samuel 7:11b (emphasis added)

God’s talking about a legacy of faith, about the relationship He had with David and the Israelites.  He accompanied David when he wandered the hills with his sheep, when he used five stones to slay a giant.  He was with the Israelites through every sand-filled step in the desert.

 

 

God came to where His people were because He desired nothing more than to dwell among and IN his people.

Building the temple was a good thing, in fact God tells David that his offspring — his legacy — will be involved in its construction.

Before we get ahead of God’s plan, what He really wants is our hearts.  Of all the gilt-edged spaces or grand ideas where He could dwell, He chooses to dwell in you and me.

A temple cannot hold God.  The next best idea or the latest fad, fashion or ideology doesn’t hold the heart of God.

His heart is where His people reside.

You are His ONE true passion.

Don’t be stunned by the grandeur, step outside the walls of your ideas and let God make within you a dwelling place and live as His temple in your every day.

Blessings, Tonya