DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- WHO AM I?

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – WHO AM I

"Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said, 'Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that you have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD: and You have also spoken of Your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? Now what more can David say to You? For You, Lord GOD, know Your servant.' " (II Samuel 7:18-20)

King David served God with a humble heart. He had not let his success go to his head. God had brought him from being a young shepherd – a lowly, smelly vocation – from the village of Bethlehem, to the pinnacle of being King over a nation. He understood that this was not the manner of men. That is not the way society usually works, especially in his culture. In America, there is the opportunity for anyone to be president. But not in ancient cultures. Being king was usually by birthright – being the son of a king.

So David is at a loss for words. "What can I say? You know me – what I was and what I am."

This reminds me of David's song recorded in the book of the Psalms: "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:4). We are nothing but dust. But God has deigned to put His love on us, and make us into something far greater than dust.

So I sit before the Lord, and marvel at His great plan. He knows who and what I am, and yet He loves me and has plans for me, as David said, "For a great while to come" – like eternity. I can't even imagine what He has in store for me in the ages to come. He has brought me this far, and I know He will take me home.

The songwriter puts it in these words: "Who am I that the King should live and die for? Who am I that He should say, 'Not my will, but Thine' for. The answer I will never know, why He should ever love me so, but to an old rugged cross he came, for who am I."

So, again I echo David's song in Psalm 8: "O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth."

Love, Dad