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After King Saul and his son Jonathan died, David became king of Israel. Although Saul had been cruel to him, David sincerely mourned King Saul and his son Jonathan. God brought peace to Israel, and David settled into his palace (see 2 Samuel 1-6). King David wanted to build God a temple, and God appreciated the offer. He knew that David was a man after His own heart and wanted to see God glorified (see 1 Samuel 13:14), but God had other plans. God established what we call the Davidic covenant with David.
God promised David that his son would become king after him and that God would establish his kingdom. God promised David that this son (Solomon) would build His temple. God promised that the throne of Solomon’s kingdom would be established forever. God promised that even though David’s family would sin and experience the consequences of that sin, God would not remove His love from them. Finally, God promised that David’s house, kingdom, and throne would be established forever.
David wanted to bless God, but God blessed David instead and did it in a way that preserved all the glory for Himself. No single human or group of humans could have ever done everything God did over generations. Only an omnipotent, sovereign God is qualified. King David bowed before God and worshipped Him. He was grateful for the ways God had promised to bless him, but he was more grateful that God would be praised for it (see 2 Samuel 7:18-29).
King David made some terrible mistakes as king, but when he did, he showed genuine remorse for his actions and repented of his sin. King David’s family was not perfect either, far from it. In fact, it might have seemed to people who were alive at the time that God had forgotten His promise to King David, but He didn’t. God doesn’t forget.
Many generations later, after time and exile had caused some of God’s people to lose hope, God’s Son Jesus was born into King David’s family (see Matthew 1). He would fulfill every covenant God had ever made with mankind. None of the people involved in Jesus’s birth story were notable by the world’s standards. God did this to show that He doesn’t play by our rules (see 1 Corinthians 1:27) and He doesn’t need to.
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Human relationships are almost always messy because people are involved, but God isn’t people. God is God. He is completely, TOTALLY different. If our relationship to/with Him is ever messy, it's only because we made it that way. We invite you to put aside any assumptions you've made about God and let Him speak for Himself. We think you’ll find that He is much easier to trust than people.
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