I start every day in my 4th grade classroom with a Morning Meeting. In this meeting we greet one another, give each other opportunities to share about their feelings, and play a team building game. Lastly, I give the day’s announcements. The necessity for these students to know what is expected of them by means of the announcements puts their their anxious little bodies at peace and rest. If they know what to expect throughout the day, how they will need to perform, the giants they will face, and how I as their teacher will lead and guide them through a successful day, then they have a boldness and a courage about them that fuels their ability to learn, grow, and ask questions if necessary.
But, I guess we all have a desire to know… to know what is coming up ahead. Isn’t that what fuels our anxiety about life? Not knowing what the future will hold and exchanging the truth about God’s sovereignty for the lie that we can control our own lives? But God speaks a better word through David…
“For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you. And now, O Lord, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you, for it is you, O Lord, who have blessed, and it is blessed forever.” (1 Chronicles 17:25-27)
The book of Chronicles was written after the Israelites were taken into captivity by the Babylonians to reassure the returned exiles of God’s faithfulness toward His people. Maybe you’re a returning exile today needing to be reminded of God’s faithfulness in what He’s going to do in your future… Maybe you just need a reminder that your faith is dependent on your hope of what the Lord is doing for your future.
Here in this passage David is responding in a prayer of thanksgiving to the God who is faithful. He is faithful to reveal His plans for those that love Him and keep His commandments. He is faithful to those He mysteriously chooses to be His. So how does David’s response to being told that his lineage and house will continue forever bring me courage and boldness in knowing and understanding His plans for me? What promises has He made to us?
(1). I can trust His plans for my Redemption and Sanctification.
“Oh Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalm 130:7-8)
“For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel as His own possession”. (Psalm 135:4)
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”. (Philippians 1:6)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8)
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God AND ARE JUSTIFIED by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 3:23-24)
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his possession who are zealous for good works”. (Titus 2:11-14)
(2). I can trust in the future inheritance I will receive through Christ.
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:11-14)
“The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever” (Psalm 37:29)
“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32)
“So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7)
(3). I can trust that my future glory is sure as we will sing praises to our Savior around His throne.
“And if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17).
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Let these promises from God’s Word soak into your anxious heart. Trust that He is working all these things out for you, and place your hope in these things! Just as David responded in courage with boldness in his prayer to the LORD with thankfulness for revealing to him his future fate, we too can respond in courage through prayer in going to our Savior for all He has revealed about our future redemption, sanctification, inheritance, and future glory with HIM! Can you, like David, say to our Savior “your servant has found courage in praying before you”?
Our questions to the Lord shouldn’t be “God why are you letting these things happen to me”, or “God what are you doing with these unwanted circumstances”. This only breeds unbelief, and sinful responses. Instead let your questions be like David’s: “Who am I, O LORD God, that you have brought me thus far?” Because in spite of all your circumstances, He has brought you thus far.
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