It is God who gives us creative thoughts and ideas—It is God who created us meticulously and wonderfully!  So it is no wonder that the Creator, who made us in His own image, would give us creative minds to solve problems, make old things new, create all new things on this earth.

Why do you think men and women (my husband and myself included) are drawn to walk through do it yourself places of business?  To form plans to accomplish their creative ideas to improve and invest in their homes, yards, or way of life.  We all do this in some form or another by also walking through Hobby Lobby with the Christian music playing in the background making our ideas seem holy. (I’m smiling, as we might think this is a religious experience!)  Hobby Lobby is my weakness!  We also must go with a calculator in our heads or on our phones to count the cost of fulfilling these dreams as we carefully steward what God has given to us to manage.  We all have a budget—or should before going in!  We all dream of how we could invest and manage; but we need help in accomplishing the goal.

David sought the Lord with a humongous, creative thought!  We need to always seek God first before doing anything of significance, knowing God owns it all and gave us a portion to manage for His glory and our good.  We are not God, so we must inquire of God, like David, to ask the best way with His timing to fulfil the creative ideas that come to mind.

Questions to ask God:  Are these ideas lining up with Your purpose and plan for us? Are the ideas of building on or improving what is already there; merely motivated by impressing the neighbors or other family members?  Will our creative thoughts and ideas bring dividends on our investment of managing what God has given us?  Do we act on those ideas now; or wait to do it in God’s timing as He leads us? When is that, Lord?  We must ask often, “Do we move forward now or wait until later at each step of the process?” Is there something greater that You had in mind, Lord?  What is the best way to honor You in all we think, say, and do? 

The most important question of all for all of life; “God, what do YOU want?”

1 Chronicles 17

God’s Promise to David

After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”

² Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you.”

³ But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying:

⁴ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. ⁵ I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. ⁶ Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

⁷ “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. ⁹ And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning ¹⁰ and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.

“‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: ¹¹ When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. ¹⁴ I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’”

¹⁵ Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.

David’s Prayer

¹⁶ Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:

“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? ¹⁷ And as if this were not enough in your sight, my God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men.

¹⁸ “What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, ¹⁹ Lord. For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.

²⁰ “There is no one like you, Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. ²¹ And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? ²² You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.

²³ “And now, Lord, let the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house be established forever. Do as you promised, ²⁴ so that it will be established and that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord Almighty, the God over Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And the house of your servant David will be established before you.

²⁵ “You, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. So your servant has found courage to pray to you. ²⁶ You, Lord, are God! You have promised these good things to your servant. ²⁷ Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Don’t miss the message of David’s prayerful response to God—

King David was thrilled that the ark was in its rightful place, among God’s people. But David was dissatisfied that the ark (representing God’s presence) was in a tent while he lived in a beautiful palace. God knew David’s heart was in the “right place” of His will.  So, God surprised David with a special covenant, promising to establish David’s throne forever.  David’s purpose from God was to reunite Israel.  David became the Shepherd of the Sheep of God’s pasture.  David was not perfect but never stopped loving and relying on God.  God never stopped loving David.

David’s love for God and desire to honor him resulted in God honoring David. David was overwhelmed with humbled gratitude because of God’s goodness toward him.  David could have whined and grumbled that it would not be him to build a glorious Temple of God—but he did not.  David was more than humbled by God’s decision of wisdom to assign the building of a Temple to his son, Solomon.  David, the Shepherd and Warrior King, who united God’s People would give the work of Building a Temple for God’s Presence to his son, Solomon as directed by God. 

David was certainly a creative man who wrote songs of praise with songs of lament and repentance to and for God.  David’s creative ideas were turned over to God, seeking His wisdom, pleasing, and perfect will.

Our response and request of God should be shaped in much the same ways.  How? Begin daily with the words of Paul;

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” Romans 12:1-3, MSG (For all the holy details, read the whole chapter!)

Just as Jesus Christ had to take on Himself a body to accomplish God’s will on earth, so we must yield our bodies to Christ that He might continue God’s work through us. BE with the Lord before doing anything for the Lord! The Old Testament sacrifices were dead sacrifices, but we are to be living sacrifices.

“If we ever wondered what God meant by calling David someone “after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), this passage provides an answer! With profound humility David accepted God’s covenant and repeatedly turned the focus back to God’s greatness and grace. David understood that God really knew him and yet made the covenant in spite of David’s frailty. He learned the lesson we all need to learn, that life is never about us—it is ultimately about the God who made us and who loves us.” –Warren Wiersbe Study Bible

Lord,

Forgive us when we grumble when our creative ideas take more time to “simmer” or when we discover our ideas, not fully formed, were not a good for us at this time.  Lead us to create ideas according to your will, purpose and plan with your timing that will give your glory and be good for your people as we mature in your pure grace. Lord, what do you want today?  I’m listening for I am your servant.

In Jesus Name, Amen