DAVID PRAISES GOD
1 Chronicles 17:16-27
You, LORD, are God! You have promised these good things to your servant. (26)
chapter 17
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."
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
1. In verses 1-15, God had made a covenant with David that David’s lineage would be forever, promising a descendant of David would reign as king and be the Messiah (cf. Lk 1:31-33). This covenant is a key element in understanding the messianic prophecies in the Bible.
2. David’s thanksgiving prayer in verses 16-27 is threefold. First, it’s his thanksgiving to God for honoring him and his family, whom he confessed were not worthy (16-19). His thanksgiving was for what God had already done and for his promises of what he would do in the future (19). Christians must be thankful like David was (cf. 1 John 3:1-2).
3. Second, David’s thanksgiving was for what God had done for his people Israel (20-22), which was in accordance with his promise to Abraham (Gen.12:2). It was the work of God Almighty that drove out the nations who were far greater and stronger than they.
4. Third, David’s thanksgiving was for God’s great name. It was for the glory of his name that God had done for David, his family, and his people Israel (23-27).
Prayer: Father, thank you for David’s example of thanksgiving. May I always give thanks to you like David did. Amen.
One Word: O Lord, you are God!