When Our Plans Don't Go As Planned

O. T. #694  "When Our Plans Don't Go As Planned"
February 12, 2016
2 Samuel 7-Part 5
Oh LORD, there is no one like You. 1 Chronicles 17:20 NLT

LET IT GLOW

Plans. How do we react when our plans don't go as we planned? Do we become bitter or do we remain a faithful servant of the Lord? 
Our plans don't always go our way. God works things out according to His will, not ours.
I always dreamed of serving in a large church, but God kept us in small, country churches. His people there were just as important to Him there as those as in the larger church. Being country folks, we realized they were to whom we best related. God knew it all along. Be happy where He puts you is a lesson I learned along the way.
David's plans didn't go his way concerning the building of the Temple for God. How did he react?

We will finish David's prayer of thanksgiving. He is declaring how great his Sovereign LORD is and how great the things which He has done.

In verse 25, David proclaims:

• himself as God's servant. (verse 25) Isn't that encouraging that a king of such a great nation would say this?
• that His name shall be honored forever as people say, "The LORD of Hosts is God over Israel." (verse 26) Oh, that nations would say that about our country!
• He is God and Sovereign LORD. (verse 26)
• His Words are true. (verse 28)

In verse 26, KJV uses the word magnified instead of honored. Magnified means excellent, lifted up.

Are we always lifting up the excellent name of our Lord God? I noticed a difference in two Bibles. David refers God to LORD God in King James Version and Sovereign LORD in New Living Translation. Either name lifts up his God.

LET IT GROW

David is God's king, God's servant, who is used by God to save God's people for God's own glory. (Falwell)

David refers to himself as "Your servant" 10 times in this prayer to God. Later, David is referred by God as "My servant David."
David's prayer indicated that he fully accepted by faith the extraordinary irrevocable promises God made to David as king and to Israel as a nation. (MacArthur)

David desires God's will to be done in his life, his family's life, and his nation's life.

The MacArthur Bible Commentary explains the parts of the Davidic Covenant:

1. God will appoint a place for His people. (verse 10)
2. God will arrange for the permanence of His people. (verse 10)
3. God will prevent oppression from His people's enemies. (verse 10)
4. God will set up the Davidic dynasty-the house of David. (verse 12)
5. God will establish the Davidic kingdom. (verses 12, 13, 16)
6. God will ensure the certainty of the Davidic throne. (verse16)

Do we know some of the promises of God in His Word? He is faithful to keep them. We may not see them com to fruitition for a while, but it is in His timing.

David's dream of building a Temple for his Lord was not to be fulfilled by David, but his son Solomon. So David supported his son's work by supplying the lumber, stones, nails, and all the materials needed for such a feat. David backed off, didn't throw a fit, demand his own way in the matter, nor did he get bitter. No, he magnified God through the efforts of another. David embraced God's alternate plan with all his might.

When God says "no," it means He has a better way, and He expects me to support it. My very best reaction is cooperation and humility. (Swindoll)


LET IT GO

Be a humble servant as David.

Trust the Lord's Word to be truth.

He keeps His promises, so wait for them in my life.

Seek His plans.