By Sarah Evans
There are different levels of intimacy with God. When we treat God as an acquaintance, we only need Him when we are in trouble. When we treat God as a friend, we love Him but are consumed by our need to know that He loves us in return, and so it is more about us and our need for affirmation. But when we treat God as the lover of our soul, we are madly and deeply in love with Him and are consumed with pleasing Him.
King David was madly and deeply in love with God. In the bible, God testifies that ‘I have found David, a man after My own heart; he will do everything I want him to do’ (Acts 13:22). Let us follow David’s example by seeking a greater level of intimacy with God so we can desire what He desires, and so that His glory can be reflected through our lives.
As we grow more intimate with God, we will seek His presence and His smile more than His hand (gifts)
In 2 Samuel 7:2, David was consumed with pleasing God and so wanted to build Him a temple to house His presence. Even though David was going through a time of rest and abundance, when it would have been easy for David to forget about God, he was more interested in pleasing God than in pleasing himself.
It is not always easy to put God in first place, especially when everything is running smoothly in our lives. This can only happen if we remain intimate with God throughout each and every day, no matter the circumstance, and keep our focus on pleasing Him and making Him smile.
When we are intimate with God, we desire what God desires
David’s desire to build a temple was pleasing in God’s sight, and in alignment with God’s desire to dwell in the presence of His children (the Israelites). This alignment between David’s desire and God’s perfect plan was only possible because of David’s intimate relationship with his heavenly father.
The closer we are in fellowship with God, the easier it is to ‘tune out’ the noise and distraction of our busy world. When we drift away from God’s presence, we often desire carnal, temporary and selfish things that only bring us further away from the His presence. God’s desire is for us to invest in the things that are spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. When we desire the things that God desires, we bring Him glory and we become a mighty blessing in His hands.
When our desires are in alignment with God’s desires they always come into being, BUT in His timing
David’s desire to build the temple was in alignment with God’s desire but it was not in God’s timing. The temple would not be built by David but instead by his son Solomon, the next generation. God had other plans for David and had other things for him to do to bring fulfillment to his earthly calling. However, David’s desire helped to give birth to the perfect plan of God.
When we are intimate with God, and our desires become His desires, these desires will come to pass, in God’s perfect timing. In the bible, Jesus tells us:
‘Again, truly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by My father in heaven’ (Matthew 18:19)
We need to always be ready to lay down our own desires – to submit to God’s perfect plan and timing
When God told King David that his idea was good but that it would not happen in his lifetime, David could have become hurt and resentful. He could have felt cheated that someone else would get to ‘build’ his idea, but instead he recognised that God’s ways are higher and better and so did not question God’s plan and timing.
And so in response to David’s humility, God promised to bless him, promised to bless his lineage, and promised that a ‘royal dynasty’ would come out of his lineage (Jesus Christ). God gave David the best kind of promise: the promise of a spiritual legacy!
- What is it that we want more than God’s presence? We need to ask God to help us to lay these things down on the altar today.
- What legacy are we consumed by? An earthly, temporary legacy that will waste away, or a spiritual, heavenly legacy that will last forever?
God desires that we draw close to Him, listen to His voice speaking into our hearts, and follow His heartbeat. Have you drawn close to God today?
