I will build you a house

After a long, dry season, we put our house up for sale. It took the last half of that season to sell, but a year later an offer was placed before us. That night I talked to my family about the offer and we all reflected on how much we had loved the house that God had given us to live in. After supper I retired early as I wanted to sleep on the offer and get up early to pray about it.

As I prepared for bed, I felt God urging me to open my bible. I then read from Psalm 126, David speaking, "I have love the house that you gave us to live in". It was an uncanny moment, but the NIV specifically cast David's word in the past perfect tense. I sensed God was acknowledging that we needed to let go of something of value and He was showing us that this was of Him.

I read further and at the end of the chapter, God spoke to David and said, "I will place level ground beneath you". All building starts with a leveling process, using foundations to create an artificial level that is vital to sound building. The greatest of builders knew that we needed solid ground for our future, but He also knew that we needed a foundation that would ensure a sound structure in our lives. In place of the uncertainty that faced us, God now revealed a future of certainty.

In Psalm 127 David speaks of building on a solid rock and making God His house, His dwelling place. This spoke to of finding security, not in brick and mortar, but in the purposes of God. In fact, David, in Psalm 23, implied that finding a dwelling in God was a permanent thing. He confirmed that surely goodness and mercy would stay with Him always and that He would dwell in God's house forever.

David was a man given to building. He and his descendants built a physical house for a spiritual God, but mighty as her walls were, Jerusalem fell - time and time again. He also sought to build a temple for God, but that task fell to His son Solomon, but magnificent as Solomon's labors were, his workmanship barely outlasted the corruption of his own heart.

As the nation slumped into a moral morass, the Persians plundered the city and led her people into captivity. The Romans also occupied the City and Herod, who built a new and truly awesome temple, occupied the walls of Jerusalem with a Roman guard. Titus then razed the city to the ground in AD70 and the Muslims later built the "abomination of desolation" on Judaism's most sacred temple mount. Even now a portion of the ancient city is in Palestinian hands.

As the great wall of China kept away the enemy without but failed to stop the enemy within, so David's city, a symbol of security and refuge, failed to be a true house.

But God promised in 2 Samuel 7, to establish a house for David that would never fail and that would give him a secure rest from his struggles. The concept of a "house" in the bible, refers to a legacy, a lineage. Moses was a servant in his own house, but Jesus is a son over his house (Hebrews 3). The house of Abraham referred to his descendants that would become like the stars of the sky and the sands of seashore for multitude. It was the idea of a lasting legacy that kept Abraham faithful to God's call and it so appealed to his grandson, Jacob, that he fought with all his heart for that which Esau could never appreciate.

David's house became the most durable culture of history. Even when his descendants were scattered or taken into captivity, they prevailed. They never forsook their heritage and remain as entrenched in their deep values. They fight like a tiger with cubs for their promised land and their holy city and will willingly sacrifice all for the unsearchable riches of the greatest heritage.

A house is secured by its walls and foundations, but a home is built and sustained by God. Walls keep out criminals, who rarely hurt the home, as such. But God protects us from the ravages of the world. He establishes our hearts and minds, and keeps them whose minds are stayed on Him. Therefore we will see our children's children (Ps 128).

Too many parents fret about security and the physical safety that a house offers, but it is better that we trust God to establish a house, a heritage, destiny, lineage and legacy that will outlast us and touch generations to come.

Two mid-west families sired four generations. The one family was given to drunkenness and coarse living and their ultimate descendants included a string of prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics, jail birds and miscreants. The other family, though poor, established a Godly heritage. As such their descendants today include doctors, lawyers, social pillars and prosperity. Evidently one of those descendants was a vice president of the US. Which parent would you rather be - one that is safe behind your walls, but unable to protect your family from the corruption of this world, or one that jealously preserves our precious heritage for the generations to come. The former may have a house, but the latter will have an enduing home.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com