Give thanks to the Lord always! - 2 Samuel 7:18-22
The whole event must have looked like something straight out of a fairytale. Every decoration shouted elegance from the crystal chandeliers to the golden vessels to the floral displays. The tables were piled high with rich foods of every kind, enough to feed many mouths ten times over. As for the guests, well, thousands were invited. The ensuing festivities, music and entertainment were scheduled to follow. Queen Victoria's Coronation Banquet in 1838, was truly a sight to behold: opulence and decadence in excess, all in the name of a good feast.
Does life feel a little like that for you this morning? Are all your Thanksgiving decorations put up? Is the menu set? Are you looking forward to watching the Lions lose yet another Thanksgiving Day game as much as I am? Thanksgiving has become this grand production and one might fairly call it a feast fit for royalty. And boy do we all look forward to celebrating like a king or queen each year all in the spirit of thanksgiving.
Well in our sermon text for this morning we see King David celebrating his own thanksgiving of sorts, except he celebrated it a little differently. It wasn’t quite the banquet that Queen Victoria threw for her coronation. And no, it wasn’t just that he had a ham instead of the classic turkey. It wasn’t even that he tried making his own cranberry sauce when everyone knows that once a year you just can't beat the stuff that squelches from a can as it plops down into the fine china ready to be served. For David this day of thanksgiving didn’t start with a huge feast, it started with solitary prayerful meditation in the presence of the Lord. For David, Thanksgiving meant giving thanks to the Lord always both for his blessings in the past and for his blessings still to come.
It’s hard not to be fascinated by David. I mean, just think what it would be like to be King David. He’s called a man after God’s own heart, a man of great renown through Scripture and even through history. Yet he’s a man who knew trials. Trials that started from a young age. David was the youngest of eight sons. In fact, he was considered so lowly that when the prophet Samuel came to his father looking to anoint the next king of Israel, “dad” didn’t even think it worth the prophet’s time to bring out little ole David to meet him. Then, just a little while later, the Israelite army is challenged to champion warfare against their bitter enemies, the Philistines, and for a while no one steps up. So David volunteers, and when he does, he is met with mockery from his brothers, disbelief from his king, and skepticism from his fellow Israelites. But even that story takes a sad twist when David’s king decides to try to kill him for the prestige he gained on account of his heroism. It’s around then that the king takes up a new hobby of chucking spears at David to try to kill him. And so David lives on the run for years, hiding out in caves and literally scrounging the countryside for food with his motley crew.
His road to the throne had been anything but free and easy. I wonder this morning, as we pause to celebrate Thanksgiving together, do we find ourselves feeling burdened by the weight of similar frustrations? As if to say, “Here I am today, but it wasn’t easy getting here.” Okay, maybe the prophet Samuel didn’t show up at your parents’ house so they could insult you, but maybe your home life hasn’t been the most peaceful lately. Maybe sibling rivalry or an unresolved conflict has left you dreading the idea of gathering together to give thanks to the Lord this Thanksgiving holiday. I doubt any of you have faced intimidation from a literal giant breathing murderous threats against you and your God, but it’s likely you’ve faced uncomfortable comments from others about your religious habits. Comments that, if even for a split second, have made you feel embarrassed to be a Christian. I hope you don’t literally have a boss who throws spears at you in the break room; or if you do, you may need to seek out other employment. But, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably had friends and colleagues that you thought you could trust suddenly take aim at you, putting your life under their not-so-friendly scopes, just waiting to pounce the moment you mess up.
It’s easy to look back at the hardships of your past and instead of giving thanks, respond in one of these two ways. Either you might become bitter saying woe is me, who am I to have suffered such evils? And why would we do that? Because we think we deserve better, don't we? I have. Or do you find yourself drifting the other direction, slipping into the arrogance of thinking that you pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps and overcome life's unfairness all on your own. Really? Is that how you did that?
So when we come to a text like the one before us today, there might be a part of you that is left scratching your head at David’s words in verse 18. We read, “King David went in and sat before the Lord,” and said, “Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?” Why, after all those hardships, why is he suddenly so thankful? Is he just forgetful of his past troubles and Mr. Optimistic going forward? No, I don’t think that’s it. Sitting alone before the Lord and reflecting on his life, gained David perspective. It wouldn’t have taken long for him to see that he truly did not deserve a single blessing from God. David was every bit a sinner like you and me. He had not only fallen into sin, he had at times run headlong into it just like us. Later in life David confesses “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” And that’s you and I too. I know I’m a sinner, who has failed so many times. I know nothing I’ve done has earned God’s favor, only his wrath. I do know who I am, and so maybe our question from earlier needs to be rephrased. Not who am I that this would happen to me but as David intended it, who am I!
If you sit and think about your past, what do you see? Someone who deserves better? Or do you see blessings far greater than you deserve? Afterall who am I that my God would actually smile as I approach the doors of his presence this morning, doesn’t he know who I am? Who am I to have a community of Christians love me simply because we share the love of the same heavenly Father? Who am I to have a cushioned seat under me this morning? Who am I to have a temperature controlled room to worship in with electricity and lights and speakers to beautify our worship? Who am I to have a vehicle to drive here this morning so I don’t have to walk across town, much less a vehicle with all the creature comforts that it has? Who am I to have a roof to return to at night? Who am I that God provides for my physical daily needs by having prepared me for a useful vocation through education? Who am I that God has given me any single one of these blessings which we so often take for granted? Who am I that God would have brought me this far? Well worldly reasoning falls pretty flat. To the world we are a result of random coincidence and little more than a mere speck in the grand cosmos. We aren’t that special. But your God wholeheartedly disagrees. Your God says you are somebody. You are worth dying for. You are worth God dying for.
Such a thought leaves David dumbfounded before God as he feebly attempts to get the words out saying, “What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.” When we reflect on who we really are, we can’t help but join David in thanksgiving, that God loves even me! God’s will is to show me grace. And so you can fill your name in for Davids. What more can I say to you? For you know me, Sovereign Lord. For the sake of your word and according to your will you have done this great thing for me and made it known to me! I will give thanks to the Lord that he has brought me thus far!
But David recognizes that God’s goodness to him in the past is not an ending promise. David writes, “And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant — and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human.” That decree that David is referring to is God’s promise from a few verses earlier that say that David will have a direct descendant to sit on the throne forever. This is an amazing promise for two distinct reasons. First, the partial fulfillment of that promise is that his son Solomon is promised to reign after him. In turn Solomon’s son would pass the throne down to his son and so on for generations. God is promising that as long as Israel is its own nation, David's family will be the one ruling over it. That in and of itself is an amazing promise, what an honor that would have been. But, it doesn’t end there because that promise has another, more significant promise attached to it. David knew that the ultimate fulfillment is that one day an even greater King would come, one who would reign eternal. It sounds an awful lot like the eternal King Jesus is being promised to come from his very own line. And he did. David was Jesus' great (x25) grandfather. The same God that preserved and blessed David in the past also had even greater plans to bless all people of all time through his descendant by the promise of the Savior. How cool is that!
But David shouldn’t be the only one looking forward to continued blessings from God to come. God has a twofold blessing for us as well, one which will be fulfilled in this life and one to be fulfilled in the life to come. Right now and for the rest of your days, God has promised us that we are under his providence. He will continue to pour out his rich and abundant blessings on you even more than we can ask or imagine because nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus. And as if that weren’t enough, because of great King David’s even greater Son, Jesus, you and I also get to look forward to the never ending banquet of the heavenly feast to come.
And so the only thing left to say is thank you! And that’s exactly what David says. We read, “How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.” There certainly is no God like our God who blessed us in the past and will bless us in the future. How great he is and how worthy of praise at all times and in all circumstances of life.
And so this Thanksgiving, as you visit with friends and family and prepare to celebrate like kings and queens, remember what David’s day of thanksgiving looked like. It wasn’t a day to gorge on food but on the blessings from the Lord, because with each new day there are always more and more blessings to appreciate and enjoy. So give thanks to the Lord always, for his blessings in the past and for his blessings still to come. Amen.
