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Weekly Devotional

December 19, 2011

God’s Peace be with you all.

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16  Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,  ² the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent."  ³ Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you."  ⁴ But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan:  ⁵ Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?  ⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.  ⁷ Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"  ⁸ Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel;  ⁹ and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.  ¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly,  ¹¹ from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.  ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

Our devotion today comes from the Advent 2011 Devotional Series by Luther and Pacific Seminaries.

What is it with the house of David? It’s all over the place in the Bible. But a king dead for 3,000 years? What happened yesterday is obsolete! What is it with this house of David? The thing is that the God of the Bible refuses to remain an idea. God is real and God enters real history. To do that, God has to start somewhere. And God did—with Abraham and Sarah, and now with David. God promises to build David a house so that God can invite everyone into that house to share and eat with one another, to find forgiveness, blessing, and abundant life—to meet God. God had to start somewhere in order to get to you, me and all nations. A big one of those “somewheres” was the house of David.

Merciful God, open the doors of David’s house to all. Make us all your people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

In our prayers this week:  Ann, David, Scott S., the Cantrell Family, the Varner Family