II SAMUEL 7:18-29 Lesson # 8
SITTING BEFORE THE LORD: SAYING THANK YOU
I. Introduction:
Q What was your happiest Christmas? What made it so special?
Q Were you thankful to God for that experience?
Q What did you do to express that thanks?
Q What are ways we can say thank you to God?
An = Try and list them on the board.
Note: David has just been told he could not build a “house” for the Lord (that is a Temple to honor Him), but that God was going to build a “house” for David (that is an enduring family line). David must have been overwhelmed.
II. David’s Response To God’s Grace: II Samuel 7:18-29.
A. David’s Initial Response: II Samuel 7:18-21.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 7:18-21.
Q How did David respond?
An = He saw his own insignificance and that David had no claim on God’s grace. When we come to this point we have grown spiritually.
Q What is David’s posture while he is speaking?
An = He is sitting before the Lord. Can you picture this moment. David comes in and just sits before the Lord and starts telling the Lord his heart. This is just like a child coming into the kitchen and sitting on the counter and telling his mother all about his or her day. David is like a child before His Heavenly Father.
Note: God had asked David a rhetorical question in 7:5.
>>> Have someone re-read II Samuel 7:5.
Now David responds with rhetorical questions of his own in 18-20: “Who am I?”, “Is this your usual way of dealing with human beings?”, “What more can I say?”
Q Since David knows there is nothing in himself that deserves such treatment, what does he surmise is the cause of God’s grace, according to 7:21?
An = God has so acted because it was according to His Word, according to His purpose. What is more, the Lord let David know what He was going to accomplish in the future.
Q So what has David taught us to do when we are grateful?
An = 1) We can come before God as His child and 2) We can humbly acknowledge that our gifts are all of God’s grace and not something that we deserve!
B. David’s Word of Praise: II Samuel 7:22-24.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 7:22-24.
Q What is David doing here?
An = He is praising God.
Q What about God is David praising? Can this help us know how to say “thank you” to God?
An = In verse 22a, David speaks of God’s greatness. Then David tells us why God is so great. He first gives a general reason and then he illustrates those reasons with specifics.
Declaration of God’s Greatness: “How Great You Are”
Q What are the reasons?
An = Reasons for this declaration:
General Reasons: “There is none like Thee”
“There is no God besides Thee”
Specific Reasons: “You redeemed a people from a super-power (Egypt)”
“You established Israel as your people forever”
“You have become their God”
Q Does David see God as great because of what God has done for him or for his people?
An = Salvation of the group, not just the individual person, is celebrated. Truly being delivered by God causes us to see what the Lord has done for the whole church. This is typical of the books of Samuel.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 2:1-2,9-10. Hannah moves from personal deliverance to seeing God bless her people.
>>>> Have someone read Luke 1:46-50,54-55. Again, Mary, the mother of Jesus, moves from personal deliverance to the blessings that will come upon her nation, her church.
C. David’s Request For Confirmation: II Samuel 7:25-29.
Note: David is other-centered but not in a phony manner. He not only is humble and full of praise that his people are blessed and chosen by God, but aware of what he has been given. David has heard about the gift and he wants it!
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 7:25-26.
Q What is David asking for?
An = He is telling God to give him what God promised. He does want the Lord to be magnified and the people to see that God is present over Israel, but also that his own house is established before God (not men).
Q Is this a bit bold? Do you think this is the right thing to say?
An = David is not into phony piety. He is a real person; someone we can relate to. He is really excited about what the Lord has promised. He is telling the Lord: “Yes, go ahead, please do as you promised!”
Q If you told someone you were going to give them a really great gift would you want them to be excited?
An = I think we would be delighted if someone really showed excitement over the prospect of a great gift from us. David is a delightful person, I believe, in the Lord’s eyes.
Note: Two times God said that the promise to David’s house was “forever” (7:13,16). So David picks up the promise he saw in that word and he repeats the idea of “forever”.
Q How many times does David repeat the word “forever” in verses 24-29?
An = Five times: 24,25,26,29 (2x). David is a go-getter! He is an aggressive man in his prayer.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 7:27.
Q Why is David confident that the gift of an everlasting house will come?
An = 1) Because God has said it. David believes in the promise of the Lord. He would die long before he could see the fruition of this promise. He believed God’s Word. 2) Because David realized it was not his aggressiveness or initiative but God was the initiator. It was God who revealed this truth to David.
Note: One way to be thankful for God’s grace is to believe the promises of God’s Word, of God’s revelation.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 7:28-29.
Q What does David ask for now?
An = He wants the blessing of God on his house “forever”. He not only wants the house, David wants it blessed by his Lord.
Q Why is David confident for an everlasting blessing?
An = Because God has promised it. God has spoken it.
Q What kind of God is the Lord according to 7:28?
An = He is Sovereign Lord, whose Words are trustworthy, and whose Words are Words of the promise of good things.
Print Out and Pass Out to the Group.
III. Summary of How To Say Thank You To God.
I. Humble Submission:
A. Open with Humble acknowledgement of who you are.
1. “Who am I?”
2. “Are you always this gracious?”
3. “What more can I say?”
B. That God is the giver of gifts you do not deserve.
1. It was God’s idea.
2. Because He promised it.
3. The Lord did and let David know about it.
2. Praise God For His Work Of Redemption For All The Christian Church.
A. Declare God’s Greatness.
B. Give the Reasons for His Greatness.
1. He is unequaled.
2. Recount His actions of saving the church.
a. The Cross (Egyptian salvation = Salvation at the Cross.
b. His selection of us as His church.
c. That we now have an identity in Him.
3. Tell God We Really Want What He Has Offered To Give.
A. Tell God to go ahead and give the gift.
B. That you trust His character and faithfulness.
C. Ask Him to add His personal blessing to it.
D. Acknowledging that not your “faith”, but “His faithfulness and goodness” is the cause of your hope.