  Related Stories     • View comments • Track comments • The Object of God’s KindnessThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude Apart from grace, we are refugees. That is our identity. But out of his covenantal kindness and faithfulness and love, we are brought into God’s family, assigned a permanent and rightful place at his table, given a new identity and destiny, and showered with grace, not due to our own merit, but for the sake of Jesus—hallelujah! We are the object of God’s undeserved kindness.  Going Deep // Focus: 2 Samuel 9:1
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ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude
Influence—there is nothing better. Not for ourselves, but the divine enablement to make God famous in our world is the best blessing that we could ever hope for. Better than earthly fame or personal power or luxurious living—all of which are short-lived at best—is the influence that will be ours long after we are gone from this world and will follow us into the next. That kind of eternal influence only comes through a life dedicated to the glory of God alone.
If you are a David fan, as I am, this is a great chapter. Things are golden for David in this season. Literally, the unified kingdom under David begins what historians call the Golden Age of Israel—a time of economic prosperity, cultural advancement and military dominance that would last throughout David’s reign and clear to the end of Solomon’s. Times were good in Israel because in their king, they had a leader with the right stuff.
It wasn’t always that way for David; he has had more than his fair share of tough chapters. Most of the chapters in 1 Samuel that include David in the narrative paint a picture of a very difficult road from his anointing as Israel’s next king to his ascension to the throne of a nation solidly united behind his leadership. Life was not easy for David, and his path to the throne was a grind beyond anything we can imagine.
In 2 Samuel 8, however, David has arrived; he is in the sweet spot of God’s favor. Battle after battle is won, enemies are subjugated and the way to peace and prosperity for the nation has been paved. Though not perfect, which we will soon see in subsequent chapters, and while he maintained more that a few detractors (just read some of his complaints about them in the Psalms), David now has a clear path to become Israel’s greatest and most influential king ever.
What was the secret sauce to David’s great run as a leader? Well, obviously we cannot discount God’s sovereignty in the matter. Uncommon favor was upon him because the Lord had found in him a man after his own heart. The Almighty uniquely loved and took delight in David, and as a result, blessings that are not explainable for any other reason are lavished upon the new king. In fact, twice in this chapter we are told that God was the reason for David’s gains:
So the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.” (2 Samuel 8:6)
So David became even more famous when he returned from destroying 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He placed army garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. In fact, the LORD made David victorious wherever he went. (2 Samuel 8:13-14)
When the Lord is shouldering the load, success is sure to follow. Yet it wasn’t just God; it rarely is “just” the Lord. David’s had a part to play, too. And what David did to enhance what the Lord had already done for him and through him is critical to the success equation. In this chapter, we are given two specific attributes that contributed to the phenomenal reign of David:
First, David focused all of his victories back onto the Lord. David wasn’t pursing power, fame and fortune for himself, he was heaven-bent on making God look good. 2 Samuel 8:10-12 says,
Joram, the prince of Hamath, presented King David with many gifts of silver, gold, and bronze. David dedicated all these gifts to the Lord, as he did with the silver and gold from the other nations he had defeated—from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Philistia, and Amalek—and from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
David didn’t personally profit from these gifts, although he could have. Rather, he made sure the Lord’s house was the beneficiary. David was concerned that people recognize that his many victories were all about God. And the more he did that, the more the Lord turned fame, power and fortune back to David.
Second, David leveraged all of his victories to benefit the people he served. The David narrative is very clear that he very wisely, skillfully and organically put his people ahead of his own interests. He was the consummate shepherd over God’s people. David knew Israel belonged to the Lord, not to himself, and for that reason, he was indefatigable in serving them.
David ruled over all of Israel and made sure that his people were always treated fairly and justly. (2 Samuel 8:15)
The Lord chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought him to the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.” (Psalm 78:70-72)
With his head, his heart and his hands, David was both an authentic servant of the Lord and a true public servant. What wouldn’t you give to be led by a man or woman like that? Unfortunately, that kind of leader is rare. So I would suggest that when you find one—whether in your home, at work, in your church, or a political leader, celebrate them, encourage them, follow them and pray that God will increase their tribe.
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ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude
Influence—there is nothing better. Not for ourselves, but the divine enablement to make God famous in our world is the best blessing that we could ever hope for. Better than earthly fame or personal power or luxurious living—all of which are short-lived at best—is the influence that will be ours long after we are gone from this world and will follow us into the next. That kind of eternal influence comes only through a life dedicated to the glory of God alone.
Some time after David had settled in as king of Israel, he began to reflect on the immense blessings God had poured out upon him. God had given him victory over his enemies, he had established Jerusalem as the capital of the nation, times were good and David was now living in a lovely home—a palace of cedar. David remembered from whence he had come—he had been an unknown shepherd boy tending sheep on the backside of the Judean countryside as his warrior brothers served with significance in Saul’s army.
Then things turned for David. Due to no fault of his own, he lost favor with King Saul and became a fugitive on the lam for a decade or so. He lived in caves and in foreign lands. There were times that it looked like David was a goner—he was a man who had lost everything and had no prospects for a better tomorrow. Yet God was with him each step of the way, and David learned that even in the dark times, God was preparing him for a brighter future.
That future was now; David was the king of Israel—the dominant nation in the Middle East. And as David thought it over, he came to a very wise conclusion: God alone was the sole source of this many blessings; none of them were due to his own worthiness. The wealth, power and luxury were solely gifts of grace. As he pondered the goodness of God, David was grateful, and in his gratitude, he desired to now do something for God: he would build the most splendid temple imaginable, a house for God befitting the glory of the Great King.
God said no. For certain reasons, that was not God’s path for David. David’s son would get that honor; the father could help prepare his son for temple building, but it was not to be his assignment. However, God did declare that other divine blessings would come to David—some of them temporal blessings that would adorn his earthly reign as king, but one in particular that would last way longer and be far greater than even the blessing of having his name attached as the architect and builder of the temple that would house the presence of the Lord God: David would get eternal influence.
You see, while David wanted to give God a house, God would give David a house—a dynasty of kings. Going forward, God would establish David’s lineage as kings of Israel forever. And one of those sons would actually be the greatest and final king, a ruler in perpetuity, not just over Israel, but over all creation. Jesus, the Son of David, would be the King of kings and Lord of lords forever and ever.
Influence—there is nothing better. Not for ourselves, but the divine enablement to make God famous in our world is the best blessing that we could ever hope for. Better than earthly fame or personal power or luxurious living—all of which are short-lived at best—is the influence that will be ours long after we are gone from this world and will follow us into the next. That kind of eternal influence comes only through a life dedicated to the glory of God alone.
Unlike David, we are not earthly kings, but we are part of a royal family, the family of God. And like David, God desires to give us something far better and longer lasting than temporal blessings. He may very well give us those too, but he desires to bless us with influence. It doesn’t matter how big the opportunity is from our human perspective; from God’s perspective, whatever he gives is huge, since he will mold the outcome for his glorious purposes. David thought the temple would be the biggest impact he could have—and from a humanistic viewpoint, he was right—but God gave David a temple not made by human hands. God gave David something far bigger and longer lasting than an impressive temple that lasted several centuries; he gave him eternal influence.
When you dream and pray for things from God, ask for what God wants you to have. Ask for your needs—for sure. Go ahead and ask for your wants—that is okay, too. But mostly, ask for the influence he wants to give you to make his name famous. That is what will be celebrated long after you are gone and all the way through eternity.
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ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude
Whenever we exchange recognition of God’s holiness, surrender to his will and the sheer delight of his presence for a more controlled, convenient and cool experience of worship, we risk the loss of the kind of passionate praise that truly pleases him. Surrender and wonder are the heart of authentic worship, so offer that to your magnificent God the next time you’re in a worship experience—then offer it again the next time, and the time after that, too.
If you were to outline this unusual text, it neatly falls into a three-act play on passionate worship based on the three main characters of the story.
For sake of time and space, let’s focus on the least known of these characters, Uzzah. As you read this story, if you are like me, the question you have is, why did God kill this seemingly well-intentioned man for his momentary mistake? Here is what we need to consider:
It is always fatal to take charge of God. Uzzah was a priest, consecrated to oversee the care of the Ark, which he’d done for thirty years. You could say, he had hung out with the holy for three decades. That meant he was very much aware of the law of God and the Levitical regulations about moving the Ark.
So Uzzah’s reflexive act wasn’t a mistake of the moment, it was a lifelong obsession with managing the Ark. During those thirty years, it is highly likely he began to cut corners in his worship and to be selective in his obedience to God. Slowly, perhaps imperceptibly, he learned to control the presence of God. So to him, the cart was a more efficient way to worship. Eugene Peterson, who wrote a brilliant book on David called, Leap Over A Wall, says of this incident,
A well-designed ox-cart is undeniably more efficient for moving the Ark about than plodding Levites. But it’s also impersonal—the replacement of consecrated persons by an efficient machine… Uzzah is the patron saint of those who uncritically embrace technology without regard to the nature of God.
Do you think we tend to do that in our day, that we tend to manage God into more convenient and cool forms of worship? Do we ever approach worship in terms of what’s preferable to us or trendy to our culture rather than what is pleasing to God? Whenever we move from obedience to God and recognition of his holiness to a more controlled, convenient and cool worship, we risk the loss of the kind of passionate praise that pleases him. As Peterson writes,
Uzzah should forever be posted around the church as a warning sign: Danger! Beware of the God
There is certainly a danger in our day of getting too casual and too convenient in our worship and forgetting that God is still holy. We need to remember: God will not be controlled. When we fall into a pattern of control, deliberately or not, sooner or later, like Uzzah, we will become spiritually dead in our worship. Now since we were created to worship God, this is a grave danger.
Thomas Carlyle rightly stated, “Wonder is the basis of worship.” Let Uzzah be a perpetual watchman who cries out from the walls of our church, “Don’t ever lose your wonder of God!”
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