Contentment is Inescapable

MEET ALISHA PLUMMER

A Note from Carol: I love giving some of my friends a voice on the Joy for the Journey blog. I can’t wait to share this post from Alisha Plummer. She is a 30s something, single woman who is passionate about glorifying God and serving others. She is an emergency department physician assistant by day and an author by night. She is involved in disaster relief, serves in women’s and children’s ministry, and writes Bible studies and mystery rooms for her church and youth group. A native New Mexican, Alisha enjoys boldering, hiking, and caving, and has a wonderful family, including five nephews, to do these things with her.

It was such a great idea! David would build God a temple! Big, beautiful and glorious just like all the nations around them. Nathan didn’t even hesitate before telling the king, “Yes! Go for it.”

But the very next day, the prophet had to inform King David, “God says no.”

God’s response to David is twelve verses long (2 Samuel 7:5–16), and it is intriguing—both what was said and what was not. He did not belittle David’s desire to build the temple. Instead, He gently reminded David, if the King of Creation wanted a house for Himself, He would have asked. God reiterated that David was called to shepherd a kingdom, not build a place of worship. And in the end, even though David desired to give God more than the Tabernacle, God was asking for a different sacrifice.

For those of us who have something specific we want to do for God, such as marry and raise up a household of children for God, this is important to hear. God will ask from us what He wills for us. He isn’t playing hide-and-go-seek or expecting from us what we cannot give. If He doesn’t provide a husband or children, He is not asking us for a godly marriage or children. If He doesn’t open the doors into a particular ministry or college, He must be desiring a different sacrifice. And often that sacrifice requires everything we have (Philippians 1:21).

Lesson 1: God will treasure our dreams of bringing Him a great gift, but often He will change our plans.

The Holy One of Israel did not laugh at David’s plans. God is the Lord of heaven and earth, and it cannot contain Him. Certainly no house of ours will be sufficient to contain Him—no matter how much gold or silver or stone. Everything we give God is from Him.

There is nothing we can give grand enough to impress Him, nor is there anything we can supply without Him (Psalm 50:12).

Growing up, we loved to play garage sale at my grandparents’ house (we tried it at home, but it was never quite as successful). We would scour the basement for small items to sell to my parents and grandparents for five or ten cents.

It was the best game ever. We sold them back their own stuff, and they paid us for it!

We are doing the same with God. Every breath we take is from His hand and for His good pleasure. We serve Him only through His enabling. And though we think of our service to God as a gift to God from us, in reality everything is His already.

David realized quickly that he was playing garage sale with God, and it brought him to his knees. The God who spoke the universe into existence graciously listened as David offered to give Him back what He already owned. (This would be a good place to pause and worship God for His incredible humility, grace, and love.)

Lesson 2: God will give us what we need to give Him exactly what He wants.

It is particularly instructive to notice the Lord did not humor David’s idea and let him think/do what he wanted without intervention.

David’s God-given purpose was to lead the people of Israel as king. God knew David’s years were flying by and would soon be over (Psalm 144:4). The Ancient of Days wasn’t going to silently stand by and let David waste his life doing anything other than what God designed for him to do. And God won’t let us waste our lives either—if we are willing to accept His instruction.

How we use our time equates to how we use our life. For those of us with regrets in our past (1 Peter 4:3), don’t despair. Our God is the author of our days and the redeemer of our souls. He is able to restore to us in wondrous ways what is absent or destroyed because He alone is God (Joel 2:25–27). In Christ our lives have been redeemed; to spend our current lives on anything other than what God wills for us is a waste. Whether we are single or married, it is God who reveals to us His will and brings us into it.

Lesson 3: God guides us into His will.

In response to these eleven verses, the king after God’s own heart said, “Who am I, O Lord God . . . that You have brought me this far?” (2 Samuel 7:18).

David may have missed Paul by a millennium, but both concurred: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

God’s grace to be content is likewise abundantly provided to us today.

Many of us start life with a “To-Do-List” like graduate college, get married, have children, get a career, serve God as a missionary or a children’s ministry leader or the director of Awana.

Fast-forward a few years, and the future is here. We can all look at that list of priorities, and we know how well we’ve achieved them. Any boxes checked are by the grace of God. He has provided the opportunities, the intellect, the physical stamina, and the heart to accomplish those things (Deuteronomy 8:18). Any boxes not yet checked are blank also by the grace of God. For by the grace of God, I am what I am.

Resting in this—the grace of God—contentment is not only possible but inescapable. King David found this out as God reviewed his life. Who chose him? Who protected him from Saul? Who kept David from killing Saul or Nabal? Who established him as king over Israel? Who blessed him on the battlefield? Why did a shepherd have a name among the great men of earth? God. Only God.

If we were to write questions for everything good in our lives, we would find the answer to our questions is the same as David’s. God. Only God. This is a humbling realization, and once it sinks down into our core, we will join David on his knees in awe and gratefulness: Who am I that you’ve brought me this far?