This pic was taken in 1970. I’m with my older brother Brian, younger sister Julie and baby brother, David.

2 Samuel 7

This is a monumental chapter in scripture. I may take a few days to soak in it. The Lord speaks to David through the prophet Nathan and outlines the irrevocable Davidic Covenant; a promise from God. As a reminder, decades before, Israel was at a low point; the glory of God had departed. David was anointed privately as the king of Israel. A multitude of events followed that God perfectly orchestrated. Some of the diverse events included the selfish motives of men, warfare, killing, deceit and revenge. Alongside such negatives motives were acts of love, kindness and devotion.  There was a symphony of human activity both good and bad that was guided by God’s Sovereignty to bring about the reign of a David over Israel. Why was this result so important to God? Placing David on the throne, restoring the glory of Israel and blessing David’s 80-year reign was important at the time in and of itself but it was more important as a means to an ultimate end: the reign of David’s descendent, the Messiah. The Davidic Covenant is all about Jesus. Not just His work someday on earth but His reign for all of eternity.

The Sovereignty of God vs. the affairs of man

We will consider the Davidic Covenant and David’s prayerful response in the coming days, but I’m tempted now to take a slight tangent and consider the Sovereignty of God in the affairs of man to accomplish HIS purposes. What a topic. What an amazing topic. The reality of God’s sovereignty blended with the actions and motives of mankind is a thoroughly fascinating discussion that elicits varying degrees of emotions from Christians, depending upon their theological bent. Through many years of reading the Bible and considering the depth and breadth of God, I have a “high” view of God’s sovereignty. This means I lean more toward the detailed control of God over the events of mankind vs. God’s general oversight of man’s self-controlled activities. As I mentioned, this topic carries with it the potential to make some Christians very uncomfortable but I believe we should all think much about God; who He is, His depth, His breadth and the wonder of all that He is. Let’s not neutralize the topic because it causes disagreement.

The ocean of God’s Sovereignty

I like to think about the Atlantic Ocean as an illustration of God’s Sovereignty. When we stand on an east coast beach, looking at the ocean, it’s like “seeing” what we can see (or understanding what we can understand) of God’s Sovereignty. What we see is stunning and awesome. The wonder of the ocean that we can view with the naked eye is amazing. We can stand there or walk on the beach for hours and be energized with its wonder. But the reality is that the wonder that we “see” and the full scope what we humanly behold is only 1/10000000000O000th of the full wonder of the Atlantic Ocean. From the shore, we can’t see the mammoth depth and detail of all that is in the ocean. Understanding His Sovereignty and the full wonder of Who HE is similar. Thus I don’t understand everything about God’s Sovereignty because I can only see a small part. But nevertheless, by faith, I have a high view of Him and His Sovereignty and I hope you do too! I know that God’s sovereignty and thus His will and purposes are greater than the free will and personal intentions of man. But exactly how it works and integrates together, I just don’t know.  And I’m OK with that. I can only see Him from the shore but someday I will behold Him face-to-face. Then my comprehension will expand.  But for now, I am doing my best to not put God in a finite box to make myself feel comfortable with Who He is. He is much more than what I can imagine. Nevertheless, take what you do know about Him from His Word and think much about God today! Amen.