REFLECTIONS
May 3, 2009
 
 
"Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?”
2 Samuel 7:18-19
 
                                                                                                      
Broken Dreams
                                                                                      
God said no. David’s dream would not come true. He so wanted to honor God by building a temple for the many blessings of his life. Those days in the fields tending sheep were a blessing. The solitude of the countryside had been so peaceful, and God’s nearness inspired the songs of praise he wrote. In thanksgiving he had set them to music with his harp strings. Though danger from the wild lurked in the darkness, David had no fear of it. The Lord was his shepherd.
Goliath had fallen to a smooth stone cast from David’s slingshot, and great armies had fallen by his hand all because God was with him. His enemies had chased him into the hills, but God provided him shelter to hide. And when the enemy was gone, God restored him to his throne. Then there were the promises—promises that his legacy would live and that a very special person would come from his roots someday.
Not everything had gone well in David’s life, however. His king had tried to kill him, his best friend was killed in battle, his daughter had been violated by a son, and another son defiled his bed and tried to overthrow his kingdom. But David did not define his life by its tragedies. “I live in a palace of gold while my God has only a tent to rest his head. I will build a temple to honor God as He has honored me,” he dreamed.
But God said no. David was a great warrior. He conquered powerful armies in service to the people he ruled and for the God he served. He had too much blood on his hands for God to allow him to build the temple. For David, it was a broken dream, but he remembered his many blessings and he thanked God for his undying love.
Broken dreams are the parts of life that just don’t turn out like we wanted. Sometimes we allow them to define our lives. But our lives are not defined by broken dreams. Our lives are defined by the way God uses us in the world. When God says no to our dreams, may we remember our many blessings and thank Him for his undying love.
 
“You are the light of the world,”
Richard Ì

www.reflectingthesavior.org


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